A global offering to cover your wealth management needs

Our heritage and Swiss tradition provide you with values of confidentiality, security and a willingness to find innovative ways to satisfy your demands.

State-of-the-art technology and up-to-date tools allow us to strive for the excellence which makes us a manager of choice for private investors. Our tailor-made advice is built on our perfect understanding of your personal, professional and financial situation. This personalized approach leads to long-term satisfaction and business as well as personal relations that last for generations.

We listen to your needs in order to anticipate your expectations and to provide you with professional and individual solutions which enable you to reach your goals. In order to achieve this ambitious target, technical expertise and skills are of course a pre-requisite. Yet we place equal value on more timeless personal qualities, such as a sense of ethics, discretion and respect for others.

Experience Leads to Results

Long-term performance can be achieved through a clear, coherent and disciplined approach. Based on extensive experience acquired on worldwide
financial markets, Pictet North America Advisors has drawn up a structured investment framework for all its asset management activities. This framework comprises an investment process characterized by straightforward organization, clearly defined responsibilities at each stage, and an investment approach adapted to each type of portfolio.

The result of this process is a unique combination of discipline and flexibility, with a focus on longterm yields, controlled risk, independence and objectivity in the choice of financial products. The actual investment process is undertaken in two steps. The Chief Investment Officer of Pictet North America Advisors assumes responsibility for this process, and for ensuring that the chosen strategy fits your needs while products adhere to your legal and tax requirements.

Combining centralization and decentralizationThe first stage of the process entails a centralized effort: an investment policy is formulated, resulting in the construction of several strategic asset allocation grids for our management mandates with respect to the various degrees of risk and reference currencies. At the next step, which is decentralized, the asset manager implements the investment strategy and adapts it to meet your specific needs.

International diversification of a portfolio can add significant value. The Pictet group provides acknowledged expertise outside domestic US markets, i.e. in areas like Europe, Asia and Emerging Markets.

Occasionally and in order to optimize investment results, to take advantage of local expertise and knowledge or to otherwise assist PNAA and thereby maximize services to you, PNAA might utilise a sub-advisor. A sub-advisor might be a third party or an affiliate of PNAA.

Our underlying investment philosophy reflects our beliefs with respect to the basic mechanism and functioning of financial markets. It underpins our approach to analyzing markets and to the way we evaluate the economic environment or individual companies. Thus, in guiding our investment decisions and allowing us to define what we are looking for in precise detail, it forms the basis for all processes within Pictet North America Advisors. This philosophy is founded upon the following principles:

• The price of a financial asset should reflect the current value of its future cash flows
• In reality, the prices of financial assets deviate from their level of equilibrium, sometimes over an extended period of time
• In the long term, the price should return to its level of equilibrium
• The nature of market inefficiencies varies over time, but there are always some opportunities worth seizing
• The valuation level at any given time is no indication of a financial asset's immediate return but is significant in the long-term (five years or more)
• A stock's equilibrium level depends on the relationship between the returns and the cost of capital of the company in question
• Inflation and interest rates lie at the heart of market mechanisms
• In the short to medium term, there is greater certainty in anticipating economic trends on the basis of financial market developments than vice versa

Regular checksOnce implemented, the investment strategy needs constant reviewing to ensure that portfolios are permanently adjusted to optimize the composition and choices implemented in an ever faster-changing financial environment.

Pictet North America Advisors offers risk-adapted discretionary portfolio management - fixed income, balanced, equities, and special mandates (i.e. hedge funds, absolute return strategies or private equity).

To pinpoint needs and determine objectives, an assessment of your current situation needs to be made, in order to obtain an overview of all the elements under review. This process takes into account various constraints such as investment horizon, desired cash flow and liquidity needs. Once your financial and personal situation has been established, your risk profile as well as your goals can be defined and a personalized investment strategy put into place.

Investment strategiesTypically, any of the following strategies can be placed at your disposal:

• Defensive strategy, geared towards safeguarding the value of assets and securing an absolute return
• Growth strategy, seeking both long-term capital growth and returns clearly above the risk-free interest rates over a complete cycle
• Specific mandates, such as a geographical focus (i.e. EAFE or European equities only, Emerging Markets or Asia), a product focus (equities, bonds, etc) or a benchmark approach (looking for out performance versus a specific index, a group of indices or other benchmarks)
• Alternative strategies, encompassing a range of non-conventional approaches, such as concentrating on a restricted number of securities or investing in derivatives and structured products, hedge funds or private equity (where applicable)

The objectives and resulting investment decisions need to be reviewed periodically so that the investment strategy can be adapted to your needs, which will certainly evolve on a continuous basis.