Bob Parker, vice-chairman at Credit Suisse’s asset management arm, tells Yuri Bender that the industry may be under threat, but those providing the right advice and matching products to clients will come out on top

The global economic crisis has opened up huge opportunities for investors, writes Yuri Bender, but how should private clients apportion their assets?

At the centre of all questions of asset allocation at Credit Suisse is the Multi Asset Class Solution (Macs) unit, which not only decides optimal allocations, but also populates them and manages the investments for the Zurich-based private bank and other, third party customers. Yuri Bender talks to Michael Krinner, the Macs product specialist responsible for structuring and running the private banking mandates

A more predictable market environment means we could start seeing some consistent returns from hedge funds in 2009

Hedge funds have received a bad press of late as investors hoping for absolute returns were disappointed with their performance. But these vehicles can still offer uncorrelated alpha and the industry is responding to calls for greater openness, writes Elisa Trovato

The relentless market volatility of the past year has sparked new interest in strategies that can help manage downside risk but maintain growth potential, says Michael T. Buckius

As more and more investors and asset managers are looking to diversify their portfolio to include holdings in alternative asset classes which combine low volatility and stable growth, so longevity assets are steadily gaining traction, write David Rawson-Mackenzie and Pollyanna Wan

With nervous investors choosing to remain in the safety of government debt, managers are looking to make certain of the credit quality of their issuers, writes Ceri Jones