BMO Harris Private Banking has launched two new bond portfolios that seek to outperform Canadian benchmarks, such as the Scotia Capital Universe Bond Index, by tapping both traditional and non-traditional sectors of the fixed income markets.

The new BMO Harris Opportunity Bond Portfolio and BMO Harris Income Opportunity Bond Portfolio will take a ‘core plus’ approach, using the full set of available fixed income strategies, such as non-interest rate anticipation, global bond and high-yield bond strategies, to add incremental value over benchmark returns.

The new portfolios are exclusive to BMO Harris Private Banking clients and are sub-advised by Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO), one of the first managers to introduce core plus strategies into Canada. PIMCO evaluates the high likelihood of value in relation to the benchmark before it pursues any one of the available strategies. By considering all sectors of the bond market simultaneously, the core plus strategy is intended to translate into higher performance with lower volatility.

“The core plus approach is a well established strategy for many investors and is a natural fit for a private banking organization that focuses on wealth preservation and legacy building,” said Paul Taylor, senior vp, chief investment officer, BMO Harris Private Banking. “These portfolios offer income and capital appreciation and the low correlation between the sectors adds value without substantially altering the risk level from that of the benchmark.”

The sub-adviser of the portfolios, PIMCO, has more than 30 years of international experience with over $690 billion under management. As one of the first active fixed income managers in the industry, PIMCO has launched core plus portfolios in several other countries.

“Core plus strategies have been a popular style in the U.S. for more than 15 years and in PIMCO’s case the volatility of core plus portfolios around the world has varied from 10 basis points under the benchmark to 30 basis points over, which is similar to the more restricted Canadian portfolios,” said Margaret Isberg, president of PIMCO Canada.

PIMCO Canada was established in 2004 to offer core plus Canadian fixed income management and as at December 31, 2005, manages over $1.2 billion. PIMCO’s Canadian portfolios are managed by specialists at PIMCO headquarters in California.