HSBC Global Asset Management today announces the appointments of Dr. Nathalie Flury and Dr. Michael Schröter as Co-Heads of Sustainable Healthcare Equity, reporting to Vis Nayar, European & UK Chief Investment Officer. Based in Switzerland, Flury and Schröter will be responsible for establishing a sustainable healthcare investment strategy.
With over 40 years of combined healthcare expertise, they both join from Viopas Partners AG, a Swiss-based asset manager dedicated to sustainable healthcare investments. Before joining Viopas, Flury was the portfolio manager for the Pictet Asset Management, Health and Biotech fund, prior to which she managed similar funds at GAM and Clariden. Schröter’s previous roles include developing innovative pricing solutions to ensure access and affordability as Head of Personalized Reimbursement Models at Roche and Head of the Oncology Diagnostic R&D Center at Eli Lilly in Singapore.
The strategy will integrate a sustainable investing approach tailored to healthcare which aims to drive social impact without sacrificing performance. It is based on the macroeconomic trend of rising healthcare costs resulting in access restrictions which hurts patients, physicians, the industry and investors.
“Past strategies to make healthcare sustainable are struggling to work and we are reaching a tipping point that jeopardises healthcare sustainability. Healthcare budget increases beyond GDP growth are unlikely and patients are being increasingly denied treatments because of high costs. Shifting demographics and therapeutic innovation are also increasing the demand for healthcare and innovative therapies which come with increasingly high price tags.”
Dr. Nathalie Flury and Dr. Michael Schröter
“Our clients are increasingly looking for innovative and sustainable ways to grow their wealth whilst simultaneously doing good for society. Our sustainable healthcare strategy has been designed to enable them to do this, whilst aiming to deliver strong investment returns. Dr. Nathalie Flury and Dr. Michael Schröter’s extensive leadership and experience in this sector will be hugely beneficial to our clients.”
Vis Nayar, European & UK Chief Investment Officer, HSBC Global Asset Management
What is sustainable healthcare?
Through focusing on innovation, the overall cost of healthcare can be reduced. New treatments, devices, diagnostics, digital-health and services can all play their part in achieving this. In order for a healthcare system to be sustainable, all stakeholder needs must be addressed. These include:
- Payers, for example insurers, staying within budget while ensuring quality care for their covered population
- Doctors having no prescription restrictions imposed by payers
- Patients having access to best suited treatments for their disease
- Industry, for example healthcare companies, recovering R&D investments plus profit
- Investors being appropriately rewarded
HSBC Global Asset Management currently manages USD61 bn1 in equities. The firms’ strategy is to become a core solutions and specialist Emerging Markets, Asia and Alternatives focused asset manager with client centricity, investment excellence and sustainable investing being the key proponents of its strategy. As part of this, it has enhanced its capabilities while expanding the range of instruments in which it invests, to achieve investment excellence and innovation. It has taken steps to enable a ‘multi-process strategy’ within investment platforms, allowing it to be more performance-focused and outcome-orientated. As part of its investment strategy the firm continues to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into its investment process and deliver innovative solutions to generate sustainable, long-term returns for investors to meet their sustainable investment objectives and support the sustainable development goals.
