A culture of excellence
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Dagmara Fijalkowski
Senior Vice President & Senior Portfolio Manager,
Head of Global Fixed Income and Currencies
RBC Global Asset Management
(Toronto, Canada & London, UK)
Dagmara Fijalkowski:
Our system, our entire decision-making system and compensation systems for fund managers is geared towards that collective success. So, nobody is recognized for “more assets” under management to their name. What we are first and foremost recognized is for success of the funds, to which we contribute our expertise.
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John Utter
Head, Institutional Client Service
RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc.
Minneapolis, U.S.
John Utter:
The culture is one of collaboration and teamwork. Very few egos, very few superstars, very few rock stars. We know that our goal is to put clients’ interest first. And we do it in a teamwork environment.
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Scott Lysakowski
Vice President & Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Canadian Equities,
Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management
Scott Lysakowski:
We all share in the outcome. We all contribute to the results that we deliver for our clients.
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Habib Subjally
Senior Portfolio Manager & Head of Global Equities
RBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited
Habib Subjally:
At the end of the day, without our clients, we have, we have nothing, right? So, it’s completely client-focused, which means we are very meritocratic and very transparent. We have to be, ultimately, we are judged on what we deliver to our clients.
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Daniel E. Chornous
Chief Investment Officer
RBC Global Asset Management
Daniel Chornous:
Well, I think the part that we’re probably the most proud of was never planned. It’s a great culture. That results from the people that are there, the size of the footprint that we have, but everywhere we go the culture is effective, and it’s polite and it’s collegial. Which I think the sum of all this, and it really has a lot to do with the way the firm grew, is that we have a learning culture. And investment professionals thrive in a learning culture, and performance thrives in a learning culture.
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Sarah Riopelle
Vice President & Senior Portfolio Manager, Investment Solutions
RBC Global Asset Management
Sarah Riopelle:
We’re such a collaborative culture, everybody’s always bending over backwards to try and help other people out. If you see somebody struggling, you always put your hand up and say: “Is there something I can do to help you?”
Habib Subjally:
There’s a real intellectual humility about this firm and I think that’s a real strength and a really important part of that culture.
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Stephen Burke
Vice President, Fixed Income
RBC Global Asset Management
Stephen Burke:
But with respect to the investment process itself I think humility is what makes you ask: “How can I do better tomorrow?” even after you’ve had the best day or the best quarter you can remember.
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Murphy O’Flaherty
Portfolio Manager
RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.) Inc.
Murphy O’Flaherty:
I think it’s really important to be able to feel like you’re learning from your colleagues and inspired by your colleagues. And different backgrounds I think bring different strengths and different ideas, and that’s very valuable.
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Philippe Langham
Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Emerging Market Equities
RBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited
Philippe Langham:
So, for me in terms of building up a team, diversity has been an important factor and we benefit from diversity in terms of gender, in terms of philosophy, in terms of personality, in terms of backgrounds.
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Damon Williams
Chief Executive Officer
RBC Global Asset Management
Damon Williams:
It makes for great conversations, great perspectives and it helps us get better answers, as we all help each other internally. We’re competitive externally, but very collaborative internally.
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Eric Lascelles
Chief Economist
RBC Global Asset Management
Eric Lascelles:
To me the astonishing thing is the level of teamwork and really it’s the resourcing that exists right across the firm and the ability to have experts at almost everything at your fingertips. And so, I suppose I would nominally be that economic expert, but we have technical experts and evaluation people and quants who are building up models and systems and really that combination is what creates the ability to win and to succeed. It’s not any one person. I don't think you can win reliably in the investing world with one or two people. It takes a team and a team is what we’ve got.
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Disclaimer