James Switzer
13 Years at AB|25 Years of Experience
James Switzer is a Senior Vice President and Head of Municipal Bonds. He is responsible for driving our municipal bond strategy, including the firm’s innovation efforts within our municipal research, trading and portfolio construction processes, underpinned by best-in-class technology. Switzer has been instrumental in the strategic repositioning of our trading organization and the development of our industry-leading trading tools, ALFA and Abbie. Before joining AB in 2011, he was a managing director at Société Générale, where he managed the Financial Institutions Credit Trading Desk, and at BNP Paribas, where he managed the Investment Grade Trading Desk from 2000 to 2002. Switzer also formerly served as a sector portfolio manager and trader at UBS Principal Finance (from 2002 to 2005) and at Sigma Capital (from 2005 to 2008). Earlier in his career, he worked at Paine Webber and Co.; Kidder, Peabody & Co.; and Alex. Brown & Sons. Switzer holds a BA in biology from Colgate University. Location: New York
Published Work
The pandemic has accelerated an evolution in bond trading, and it is already making a difference for investors-if bond managers have embraced tech-enabled trading.
Crowded trades have become all too common in fixed-income markets. But running with the crowd is risky, particularly when it comes to illiquid assets like bank loans that may not be easy to sell during a market downturn.
The digital revolution took its time getting to fixed income, but today it's transforming the investing landscape. Already, major advances in technology are helping early adopters gain unique insights and act faster in markets where speed and alpha are increasingly and inextricably linked.
At long last, fixed-income investing is entering the digital age-and investors should pay close attention to what their asset managers are doing to keep up. From better pricing to better solution design, the digital revolution that's transforming the fixed-income management landscape can lead to a host of benefits.