Publications
Matthew Scanlan’s contribution to books, journal articles, industry research, and media coverage spanning more than 40 years of institutional investment practice.
Books
Books
Active Index Investing
Scanlan contributed Chapter 3, “The Ever-Evolving Uses of Indexing: Why the Active versus Index Debate Is Over,” to this Wiley Finance volume edited by Steven Schoenfeld. The chapter traces the growth of indexing across market environments and asset classes and makes the case for indexing as a core element of any holistic investment strategy.
Managing Investment Portfolios: A Dynamic Process
Scanlan co-authored Chapter 2, “Managing Individual Investor Portfolios,” in this third edition of the CFA Institute Investment Series, edited by John L. Maginn and Donald L. Tuttle. One of the most widely circulated institutional finance texts in the world, the volume covers the full portfolio management process for both individual and institutional clients.
Research
Academic & Journal Articles
Five Myths About Fees
Co-authored with Ronald N. Kahn and Laurence B. Siegel, this article examines common assumptions about investment management fees, including fixed versus incentive structures and the value of high-water marks. The paper argues that fees should not be an overriding investor concern when products deliver sufficiently high risk-adjusted returns. Recipient of the 2007 Bernstein Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy Award for Best Article.
The Retirement Benefits Crisis
Co-authored with Carter M. Lyons, this article examines the crisis facing traditional defined-benefit pension plans — one leg of the three-legged stool of retirement security — and proposes a course of action for employers, policymakers, and plan sponsors.
Five Principles to Hold Onto
Co-authored with Laurence B. Siegel and M. Barton Waring. Drawing on the Sharpe market model, the article identifies five investment principles practitioners should maintain regardless of institutional pressure: separating alpha and beta decisions, recognizing active management’s zero-sum nature, and paying appropriate fees for each return component.
Is Patience a Virtue?
Co-authored with David L. Donoho and Robert A. Crenian. Using Monte Carlo simulation, the study demonstrates that institutional investors who evaluate manager performance over five-to-ten year horizons are significantly more likely to identify and retain genuinely skilled managers than those relying on shorter-term results.
No Fear of Commitment
Co-authored with Laurence B. Siegel. The article makes the case for high-conviction active management — concentrated portfolios built on deep fundamental analysis — as a viable complement to indexation in diversified institutional portfolios, applicable to both long-only and long-short structures.
Practical Applications of No Fear of Commitment
An extended interview with Siegel and Scanlan for Institutional Investor Journals, expanding on the arguments in their 2014 article. They discuss how to identify managers with genuine skill, drawing an analogy between building a concentrated manager portfolio and building a concentrated stock portfolio.
Industry
Industry Articles
Where Are Your Diversification Benefits?
Published in Barclays Global Investors’ Investment Currents practitioner series, this piece examines the conditions under which international diversification delivers its promised risk-reduction benefits — and the market environments in which those benefits may be overstated.
Foreign Diversification Questioned
Published in Pensions & Investments, this practitioner article challenges conventional assumptions about international diversification and presents data showing the conditions under which the benefits are real and the conditions under which they are not.
Indexing in the 21st Century
Published in Barclays Global Investors’ Investment Insights series, this piece examines the expanding role of index strategies in institutional portfolios and makes the case that the active-versus-passive debate misses the more important question of how indexing can function as a building block within broader investment strategy.
The Future Shock of Retirement
A research study co-authored with Jonathan Cohen and Matthew O’Hara, using Health and Retirement Study data to model the effects of reduced Social Security benefits and home equity on retirement readiness. Found that many middle-income households face a significant gap between perceived and actual retirement wealth, and proposed responses at the government, employer, and individual level.
Coverage
Media Mentions
Matthew H. Scanlan Joins Adams Street Partners Board of Directors
Announcement of Scanlan’s appointment to the Adams Street Partners Board of Directors.
RS Investments Ready to Take Bigger Piece of Pie
A profile of RS Investments as a $26 billion firm, quoting Scanlan on the firm’s growth strategy and crediting his earlier role in expanding BGI’s institutional business.
New CEO Takes Reins at RS Investments
Coverage confirming Scanlan’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer of RS Investments.
Scanlan Named CEO at RS Investments
Coverage of Scanlan’s appointment as CEO of RS Investments, succeeding outgoing CEO Terry Otton.
Scanlan’s BGI Departure Is a Symptom of Rough Times
Coverage of Scanlan’s departure from Barclays Global Investors amid broader industry turnover during the financial crisis.
Renaissance May Lift Veil — A Bit
Reporting on Scanlan’s move to Renaissance Institutional Management as President and CEO, and his role in bringing greater transparency to the firm’s institutional offerings.
Defined Contributions: Sticky Fingers
A feature on the defined-contribution market quoting Scanlan, then head of BGI’s Americas institutional business, on applying defined-benefit investment principles to DC plans.
Annuities Meet Their Match
Coverage of a new defined-contribution annuity product developed under Scanlan’s leadership at BGI, for which the firm filed multiple patent claims.
Barclays Adds Annuity Feature to 401(k)s
Coverage of BGI’s SponsorMatch product launch, quoting Scanlan on bringing defined-benefit plan advantages into a defined-contribution structure.
Retirement Might Be Worse Than We Think
Coverage of the BGI “Future Shock of Retirement” study co-authored by Scanlan, on the gap between perceived and actual retirement readiness.
Listings above link to original third-party sources and publications. Matthew Scanlan does not control the content of external sites and is not responsible for their availability or accuracy.
