Hui’s response to Doug’s question about the most efficient portfolio management strategy should be:

A. Full replication.

B. Active management.

C. An enhanced indexing strategy.

Doug, the newly hired chief financial officer for the City of Radford, asks the deputy financial manager, Hui, to prepare an analysis of the current investment portfolio and the city’s current and future obligations. The city has multiple liabilities of different amounts and maturities relating to the pension fund, infrastructure repairs, and various other obligations. Hui observes that the current fixed-income portfolio is structured to match the duration of each liability. Previously, this structure caused the city to access a line of credit for temporary mismatches resulting from changes in the term structure of interest rates. Doug asks Hui for different strategies to manage the interest rate risk of the city’s fixed-income investment portfolio against one-time shifts in the yield curve. Hui considers two different strategies:

• Strategy 1: Immunization of the single liabilities using zero-coupon bonds held to maturity.

• Strategy 2: Immunization of the single liabilities using coupon-bearing bonds while continuously matching duration.

The city also manages a separate, smaller bond portfolio for the Radford School District. During the next five years, the school district has obligations for school expansions and renovations.

The funds needed for those obligations are invested in the Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Index. Doug asks Hui which portfolio management strategy would be most efficient in mimicking this index.

A Radford School Board member has stated that she prefers a bond portfolio structure that provides diversification over time, as well as liquidity. In addressing the board member’s inquiry, Hui examines a bullet portfolio, a barbell portfolio, and a laddered portfolio.