John Young

Director St Clair Group Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand

Jan 2020 - Present

Independent Consultant providing operational and policy advice on financial & capital market related issues.

Skills

Central Banks · Asset and Liability Management (ALM) · Fixed Income Portfolio Management · Foreign Exchange (FX) Trading · Corporate Credit · Investment Management · Project Management · Board Governance · Asset Management

Roles to date

International Development Agency: Operational and policy advice on the use and management of the foreign reserves portfolio for a Central Bank in the MENA region.
NRMA Australia: Provision of advice and operational management in an M&A transaction for the NRMA which resulted in the successful sale of a business in New Zealand.
New Zealand Financial Markets Association (NZFMA): Provision of advice on meeting IOSCO principles to meet regulatory requirements for interest rate benchmark administrators.
NZ Treasury: Provided advice on foreign currency debt instruments to the NZ Debt Management Office. Along with formulating policy advice on Unconventional Monetary Policy (UMP) instruments for the Treasury’s Fiscal & Macro Policy Team.

Principal Advisor, The Treasury, Wellington, New Zealand

Jul 2018 - Dec 2019

Led the project for the five year performance review of the New Zealand’s Sovereign wealth Fund (NZSF). This included: formulating the Terms of Reference; leading the procurement process for the appointment of an external reviewer; and running the Post Implementation Review of the project. Process, deliverables and outcomes were well regarded by stakeholders with it being used as ‘template’ by Treasury as an example of successful project management and delivery.

Undertook a review, with recommendations, of NZ Debt Management Office’s portfolio management policies:

Liquidity buffer
Intra government lending frameworks
Portfolio Risk Processes, and
Capital market development policies.Led the project for the five year performance review of the New Zealand’s Sovereign wealth Fund (NZSF).

This included: formulating the Terms of Reference; leading the procurement process for the appointment of an external reviewer; and running the Post Implementation Review of the project. Process, deliverables and outcomes were well regarded by stakeholders with it being used as ‘template’ by Treasury as an example of successful project management and delivery. Undertook a review, with recommendations, of NZ Debt Management Office’s portfolio management policies: (1) Liquidity buffer (2) Intra government lending frameworks (3) Portfolio Risk Processes, and (4) Capital market development policies.

Senior Portfolio Manager Foreign Reserves Management, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

Oct 2006 - Jun 2018

Undertook the Bank’s foreign exchange trading activity, including official market intervention , along with fixed income portfolio management role and operational policy issues.

Highlights:

Managed US$ asset portfolio: Outperformance vs Benchmark since portfolio inception. 2 Year Information Ratio as at FYE 2018: 1.6
Responsible for managing the Bank’s foreign currency liability portfolio.
Proprietary FX trading: Successful track record of generating positive returns: 2014 to FYE 2018: Annualised returns of 24%.
Undertook a review of Bank’s investments in third party vehicles, and led a review of the Bank’s Strategic Asset Allocation policy, as well its Liability Management framework.
Prepared and presented policy and operational papers for the Asset & Liability Committee, including:
- A review of the Bank’s Credit Support Annex (CSA) agreements – which covered the risk implications for the Bank of moving to ‘Two Way’ CSAs’
- A review, with recommendation, on the Bank’s Securities Lending arrangements.
Joined the Bank’s Tactical Investment Committee, acting as Secretary for 2 years: Over that period the Tactical Portfolio moved from a loss to generating excess returns, ending the period with a 2-year trailing information ratio of 1.7.

Head of Corporate and Emerging Market Debt Strategy & Analysis, Barclays Wealth Management, London

Mar 2001 - Feb 2005

Built up and managed a team of analysts and strategists that was responsible for formulating and implementing the global investment credit strategy (including Emerging Market Debt) and investment grade corporate bond analysis for Barclays Wealth discretionary portfolios.

Provided strategy input for the monthly and quarterly investment committee meetings for Global Asset Allocation decisions.

Credit strategy fed into global fixed income portfolios with Assets under Management (AUM) of approximately £6 billion. Generated Excess returns against set internal benchmarks.

Provided strategy input for the monthly and quarterly investment committee meetings for Global Asset Allocation decisions. Credit strategy fed into global fixed income portfolios with Assets under Management (AUM) of approximately £6 billion. Generated Excess returns against set internal benchmarks.

Emerging Market Debt Strategist, Julius Baer Investment Management, London

1999 - 2000

Employed on a fixed term contract as a consultant to advise JBIM on investing in Emerging Market Debt in their international bond portfolios.

Total assets managed for clients (US pension funds) approximately US$6 billion:

US$600 million of investments in Emerging Market external and local currency debt.
Responsible for research strategy on Emerging Markets which was used to make investment decisions within JBIM, and which were also circulated to the rest of the Julius Baer Banking network.

Director - Emerging Market Debt, Merrill Lynch, London

1997 - 1999

Vice President- Emerging Market Debt, JP Morgan, London

1996 - 1997

Vice President- Emerging Market Debt, ING Investment Banking, London

1993 - 1996

Associate - Japanese Equity Warrant Trader Associate, Nikko Cordial Securities, London

1989 - 1992

John Young ​ Director St Clair Group Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand