Head of US$1t manager hasn't 'felt this good' since 2007

[PARIS] The head of Natixis SA's US$1 trillion asset-management arm said he hasn't "felt this good since 2007", amid worldwide economic growth and stable interest rates.

While markets may be in for a correction in the longer term that shouldn't stop people from investing now, Natixis Investment Management chief executive officer Jean Raby said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.

As client money flows into passive managers, Mr Raby said he doesn't plan to pursue that strategy at Natixis Investment Managers, part of the Paris-based financial services provider.

"Our active asset-management style will continue to provide value for money for our clients in 2018 and I want to stay focused on that," Mr Raby said. Active management "will be the way to go" in an environment "that is a bit more decorrelated."

While it's hard to predict equity markets trends going forward, "we are at the end of the 30-year bull bond market" and even an increase of 100 basis points in interest rates will have a "meaningful impact on the bond market, so I want to be cautious there."

Mr Raby, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker, joined Natixis last year to oversee asset-management activities including Harris Associates and Loomis Sayles in the US.

Natixis said in November that it wants to attract 100 billion euros (S$162.4 billion) of net inflows globally at its asset-management operations over the next three years.

BLOOMBERG