IMAP Awards Fixed Interest Winner - Making the complex simple

Charlie Callan (BondAdviser) and Toby Potter (IMAP) discuss how BondAdviser’s focus on fixed income and its mission to ‘make the complex simple won the Fixed Interest category in the 2025 IMAP Managed Account Awards

For the second consecutive year, BondAdviser has taken out the Fixed Interest category at the 2025 IMAP Managed Account Awards for its Income Plus (Listed Securities) portfolio.

Founded in 2014, BondAdviser is an independent, employee-owned fixed income business, not aligned to any financial services organisation.

Winning the IMAP Award is an achievement not lost on Charlie Callan, CFA — Director at BondAdviser — who credits the organisation’s success to its investment philosophy, which is grounded in active management, and combines both top-down and bottom-up analysis to capture opportunities across debt capital markets.

By Jayson Forrest

“We focus on making the complex simple by providing diversified, transparent, and risk-controlled solutions in an opaque asset class,” says Charlie.

“Our portfolios are credit-focused rather than duration-driven, with the majority of risk exposure tied to the credit health of investment-grade issuers.

“We blend public and private exposures to balance predictability of income with capital stability, and we manage risk through rigorous security-level research, diversification, and disciplined risk budgeting.”

Across is managed accounts, BondAdviser targets consistent income, liquidity, and lower volatility than broad bond indices.

For example, its flagship Income Plus SMA has outperformed its benchmark (RBA Cash + 1.5 per cent) since inception in 2016, while maintaining low duration (<1.5 years), a strict ≥BBB average credit quality filter, and capital stability (maximum drawdown of 3.8 per cent vs Australian composite bond index of 13 per cent).

As a fixed income manager, Charlie attributes BondAdviser’s success to four key components:

1. Return performance — “Our portfolios are designed to deliver consistent income, providing an alternative to term deposits, where returns are higher, liquidity is better, but credit risk is incrementally higher. We look at this in terms of: Did we achieve our target return and did we outperform our peers?”

2. Capital stability — “Our portfolios are high-quality credit products, this means they need to have a low-risk of drawdown, meaning the money is there for clients when they need it most. Another way to think about this is: Have we been consistent in our returns?”

3. Liquidity — “Capital stability is one part of the puzzle when thinking about defensive allocations, but the liquidity element is often forgotten. When a client needs capital, maintaining a steady valuation is meaningless if the cash cannot be realised. So, we are razor-focused on making sure our portfolios provide ample liquidity – where money is realised fast, and with minimal impact to price.”

4. Client experience — “As a specialist fixed income operator, it’s our job to be educators to our clients. We need to make sure they understand the asset class, our portfolios and our decision-making process.”

To notch up back-to-back wins in the Fixed Interest category of the IMAP Awards is no easy undertaking.

Charlie believes winning the award again is significant recognition of BondAdviser’s focus on fixed income and its mission to “make the complex simple” for advisers and investors.

“This award reinforces the value of a boutique, independent, employee-owned firm competing successfully in a specialised asset class against some much bigger players,” says Charlie.

He attributes this success to:

• Consistency of philosophy and process:A disciplined focus on credit, liquidity, and transparent risk management;
• Technology and research edge:Proprietary analytics and deep security-level research enable BondAdviser to generate actionable insights more efficiently and accurately; and
• Client partnerships:BondAdviser’s solutions are designed to integrate into advisers’ workflows and provide end investors with accessible, liquid, and high-quality fixed income exposure.

“This award is a reflection not only of our investment results, but also of the trust advisers and clients place in our approach,” says Charlie. “In winning this award, the team at BondAdviser is delighted to be recognised by our peers for the work we do and the results we achieve.

We are also incredibly grateful to all the judges who make these awards possible – and the excellent work IMAP does in educating and advocating for managed accounts.”

In congratulating BondAdviser on taking out the Fixed Interest category, Toby Potter — Chair of IMAP and Awards judge — says BondAdviser was able to deliver on all the criteria required by the judges, including a coherent investment philosophy, an investment process that could be clearly articulated, and a performance track record of delivering returns to investors.

According to Toby, managed accounts have become one of the fastest growing parts of the advice profession, because they provide advisers and licensees with a superior way of delivering better client outcomes that more closely align with client goals.

“We are seeing continued evolution of the technology and portfolio management capability in managed accounts,” he says. “We had more entrants this year in these awards, and a wider variety of portfolios. We are demanding ever higher standards of ourselves as a profession and this is reflected in the standard of portfolio management from the asset consultants, investment teams and the advisers who connect these capabilities to each client’s own circumstances.”

Toby adds the IMAP Managed Account Awards are only possible due to the commitment of the judges who dedicated considerable time and their professional expertise in assessing the many entries in these awards.

This year’s judges’ panel comprised of:

• Deanne Baker — Deputy Chief Investment Strategist at Evidentia;
• Brad Matthews — Founding Director at Brad Matthews Investment Strategies;
• Dominic McCormick — Industry Consultant;
• Nigel Douglas — Principal of Douglas Funds Consulting;
• Rob da Silva — Head of Research at Foresight Analytics;
• Chetan Trehan — Sector Head Real Assets, Alternatives and Multi-Asset Funds at SQM Research; and
• Toby Potter — Chair of IMAP and Executive Director of Philo Capital Advisers.