Momentum Investments Launches Outcome-Based Investment

Momentum Investments Chief Executive Officer Thinus Alsworth-Elvey in conversation with Derek Watts.

Thuli Madonsela in conversation with Derek Watts.

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was the keynote speaker today (26 May 2017) at the launch of Momentum Investments’ new underlying philosophy of outcome-based investing.

Madonsela was in conversation with Carte Blanche presenter Derek Watts at the event at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town. She said, “I’m an ordinary South African who became interested in a good and fair government. As the Public Protector, I had no idea what headwinds were ahead of me. Through the support of a great and competent team, we stood strong and stayed the course”,

Momentum Investments chief executive officer Thinus Alsworth-Elvey said Madonsela had been invited because she was an inspiring example of someone who had stayed true to her course. “Our key clients and intermediaries were obviously delighted to get the chance to hear from her and to understand the relevance of her message to our investment ethos”. 

Momentum Investments chief investment officer Sonja Saunderson told the audience that outcome-based investing is a game changer for local investors. “This is now the framework for managing clients’ investments and their investment journey. It means a complete overhaul of the way we understand investor needs, make investment decisions, dialogue with investors, and how we have structured our business to maximise the probability of investors achieving their investment goals. It makes the investor’s goal the only benchmark that matters.” 

Saunderson believes investor behaviour is proven to be driven by behavioural biases such as greed and fear, with a focus often placed on short-term and peer investment returns, as opposed to long-term drivers creating successful outcomes for investors. The industry, in turn, is product-driven as opposed to solution-driven and it often leads to a vicious cycle of sub-optimal outcomes for investors. Outcome-based investing, she said, was “the way to a much more productive and re-assuring investor journey”.