Ryan Nauman hosts Zephyr’s Adjusted for Risk podcast and interviews Manju Boraiah, Head of Systematic Fixed Income and Co-Head of Custom SMAs at Allspring, a privately owned global asset manager with about $625B AUM. They discuss the evolution of systematic fixed income investing and why models require “hands on the wheel” as regimes change. Manju identifies outsourced investment management as a major trend, driven by advisors’ time constraints, customization needs, and demand for tax efficiency, fueling growth in custom SMAs, active ETFs, and third-party and custom models. They explore how advisors can add value through better goal-to-portfolio mapping, household-level portfolio coordination, and holistic tax efficiency, and highlight the industry’s biggest gap as “aggregation without integration.” Manju describes the move from UMA to unified managed household (UMH) platforms and how AI—especially workflow orchestration—could help integrate front, middle, and back office processes at scale.
Are you looking to incorporate SMA’s into your client’s investment portfolios? Zephyr’s PSN data can help you get started. Learn more here.
Learn more about Allspring here.
00:00 Welcome to the Podcast
01:17 Meet Manju Boraiah
04:05 Systematic Fixed Income Explained
07:47 Big Trend Outsourced Investing
11:45 How Advisors Add Value Now
15:42 Unsolved Problem Integration Gap
21:22 Beyond UMA to Managed Households
25:07 AI Levels and Workflow Orchestration
29:27 Wrap Up and Where to Learn More
