Breaking down silos with total portfolIo management

Managing portfolios today requires a different approach

If you're managing portfolios today, you've likely felt the pressure: markets move faster, asset classes multiply, and traditional portfolio construction approaches struggle to keep pace. The solution isn't just better technology—it's a fundamental shift toward total portfolio management (TPM) that breaks down the silos separating your investment decisions.

In a recent WatersTechnology webinar featuring our own expert and client, panelists shared compelling evidence for this approach. Firms using total portfolio strategies are achieving 1.3% annual premiums over traditional methods, while RSA—speaking directly about their journey with SimCorp One—reported dramatic improvements in decision-making speed and cash management. Here's what you need to know about making this transition work for your organization.

Panel Insights: Why Total Portfolio Management matters now

The buy side is undergoing a seismic shift. Asset managers and asset owners are looking beyond traditional asset allocation models, but they are not simply chasing benchmark returns. Today's investment landscape—fast-changing technological and innovation pace, new geopolitical and economic risks, and proliferation of alternative asset classes—demands a closer look at leveraging total portfolio management (TPM).

"The kind of asset class return drivers we used to have are not fit for purpose going forward," said Marisa Hall, head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at WTW, adding that it is necessary to think about different ways of making portfolios resilient.

This shifting paradigm requires more than a technological upgrade—it's a reimagining of investment strategy around decision velocity. As alpha becomes increasingly scarce and competition intensifies, portfolio managers must act faster to capture fleeting opportunities. Meanwhile, the explosion of non-traditional asset classes creates a constant stream of time-sensitive decisions that traditional models are unable to support.

This prompts asset managers and asset owners to demand a more holistic view of their entire portfolio, allowing them to seize new opportunities while also managing emerging risks.

One consolidated view

While the nomenclatures of TPM, total portfolio approach (TPA) and total portfolio view (TPV) are still relatively new—with the industry still deliberating on the relevant definitions—their overarching concept is not. Their basic theme is the ability to see unified analytics and exposures across the entire portfolio.

As Jennifer Correale, partner of the Alpha Alternatives team for North America at Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, puts it, TPM is about moving away from specific asset class investment approaches toward a framework that prioritizes overall portfolio objectives and total risk-adjusted returns. She said,

It's about one place to have a real-time view of your entire investment holdings, risk exposures and performances.

In a peer study of 26 of the world's largest asset owners conducted last year by the Thinking Ahead Institute, Hall said the study found that those who have adopted a total portfolio approach over a strategic asset allocation approach had a 1.3% per annum premium over a 10-year period.

The future of TPM

While many asset managers and asset owners are still early in their journeys to TPM, potential capabilities for the future of TPM are already emerging.

WTW's Hall said the journey is also about recognizing that firms need to think differently about making their portfolios resilient. She said,

One thing I think is an evolution to a one-fund approach—though we're absolutely not there yet. I think maybe it's the near-final step in TPA maturity to bring everything together in a single fund. So, all of your balance sheet opportunities, the way you think about liquidity and investing across the capital stack, it's everything put together.

Looking at the evolving investment landscape, it is clear a shift from traditional asset management strategies to a more integrated and holistic approach is necessary, as firms navigate uncertainty, emerging risks and the pace of technological change.

TPM enables firms to improve decision-making through a unified data foundation and flexible technology stack. As firms refine their strategies and adopt new solutions, TPM is set to transform investment approaches, resulting in more agile and informed decision-making in a rapidly changing market.

Watch the full webinar here: The power of Total Portfolio Management | SimCorp

Originally published on Waterstechnology.com