Dimensional's Australian chief on the $1.1 trillion manager's 'systematic active' approach
With holdings in more than 400 Australian companies, Dimensional Fund Advisers is often mistaken for an index manager. Country head Bhanu Singh explains why those perceptions are wrong.
Bhanu Singh was first sent to Australia from the US with Dimensional Fund Advisers in 2010 to help manage its Australian equities portfolio. The Austin' Texas headquartered fund manager oversees USD719 billion ($1.1 trillion) in investments globally and is considered one of the pioneers in quantitative investments. It has had a presence in the Australian market for nearly three decades.
After bouncing between Dimensional's head office and Sydney for more than a decade, Singh was named country head at the beginning of 2023.
In this instalment of Past Performance, our Q&A series where we speak to top investors about their investing mistakes, contrarian bets and what lies ahead, Singh describes how Dimensional's highly selective and bottom-up based approach often results in it going against the grain.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Describe your approach to investing in Australia.
We invest in developed markets and emerging markets across the globe, and we tend to offer strategies that cover everything from micro caps all the way up to mega caps.
