A day with … Rocío Muñiz, Portfolio Management
Rocío talks about her day-to-day life in portfolio management, looks back on 20 years at Quoniam and shares her extensive list of book recommendations.
Describe the work at Quoniam in three words.
Friendly, professional and creative.
What does a typical day look like for you?
As a portfolio manager, I always keep an eye on the market and the performance of our products. Together with my colleagues, I am responsible for the global equity strategies MinRisk, Core and Core Plus. We take care of the necessary rebalancing in these strategies, i.e. the adjustment of the portfolios – for example to new ESG orientations or to benchmark changes. In addition, we constantly monitor whether the strategic orientation still fits and ensure that the mandates live up to the product promises. At the same time, we are available as technical experts to advise on client enquiries.
How do you look back on your time at Quoniam so far?
When I started here almost 20 years ago, I was still very young. Quoniam has accompanied me through various phases of my life: from the early years of my professional career, to starting a family, to today. At that time, I was the first woman in the Investments division, and today a quarter of my colleagues are female – a positive development, in my opinion. The first years at Quoniam were very creative; in a small team we established the company as a quant manager in the equities space. Back then we were 20 people, today I work with around 140 smart colleagues. Just like me, Quoniam has continued to grow over the past 20 years.
What are your highlights of the past years?
Building our ESG approach between 2013 and 2020. Sustainable investing has always interested me and it was a great experience to integrate the topic at Quoniam. For me, sustainability means doing something tangible – when we as investment managers can have an impact socially, environmentally and ethically and make a difference. We are also currently working on a new innovation process for the Investments division. The goal is to increase the effectiveness and speed of innovation.
When you are not working for Quoniam, what do you like to do?
I am the biggest fan of my children and cheer them on at their hockey tournaments. I also like to run, about 80 kilometres a month. I love to read, spend time with the family and learn about nutrition, Greek philosophy and cryptocurrencies. I follow current political and economic topics mainly in The Economist and the Financial Times. It is important to me not to consume only German media, but to have diversity in reporting. That’s why I like to read newspapers from other countries in other languages.
Your current recommendation?
“Tales by light” is a poignant series by Simon Lister about child labour. My favourite podcast is by Lex Fridman “Conversations about the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power”. For an inspiring audiobook on leadership, I can recommend “Why Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek. When it comes to books, I can’t decide. So here is my personal literature hall of fame:
- Scott E. Page: The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies
- Matthew Syed: Rebel Ideas
- Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer: No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
- Patty McCord: Powerful
- Lois Lowry: The Giver
- George Orwell: Animal Farm, 1984
- Maya Angelou: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
- Herman Hesse: Siddharta
- Franz Kafka: The Methamorphosis
- Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra
That will definitely keep us busy for a while. Thank you very much for the interview and the recommendations!