Holding Steady Into 2011

January marks the beginning of the third year since the 2008 credit crisis and the third year of consecutive growth of assets under management here at Capital Advisors Group. For this I am thankful to our clients and all the investment professionals here at CAG. Our economy enters 2011 amidst the backdrop of record economic stimulus, massive reregulation, below trend GDP growth, and extraordinarily high government debt levels across most developed economies. While these trends will continue to be major influences in 2011, treasury professionals’ adaptations to this environment are creating some interesting trends of their own.

This environment has been the catalyst of a shifting investment mix due to extremely low interest rates and the reregulation of money market funds closer to their intended purpose of a simple liquidity vehicle. Also, the environment has generated a plethora of products around risk mitigation with the goal of improving risk/reward characteristics as well as increasing visibility into the overall risk of one’s investment holdings. Companies are searching for ways to quantify risk exposures as they seek return and need specialized information to make these educated risk/reward decisions. We feel these trends will likely influence many treasury decisions in 2011.

Here at Capital Advisors Group we welcome these trends as they suit our long history of conservatism and strong focus on capital preservation. We believe that because of this legacy in separate account cash investments, along with the addition of Fund IQ, which captures the risk/reward characteristics of institutional money market funds, we remain on the forefront of these current trends. As we enter 2011, we welcome the opportunity to continue to grow with our clients and to continue to strive to be a thought leader in risk analysis in the cash investment markets.

Best Regards,

Ben Campbell
President & CEO