"Her Strength" | Nord Fund Bond Investment Department Deputy Director Xu Juan: Prioritizing Stability and Striving to Secure Absolute Returns

In traditional understanding, strength is often associated with rigidity and sharpness, but the capital markets are never short of edge. Female fund managers are redefining professional strength by combining firmness and flexibility. The current “her power” breaks this binary opposition—firmness means sticking to principles and bottom lines, while flexibility signifies wisdom and guidance. Together, they forge an investment path that balances intensity and warmth, reflected in net value curves and long-term value.

With over fifteen years of investment research experience and about nine years managing portfolios, Xu Juan is currently the Deputy Director of the Bond Investment Department at Norde Fund. Her past management includes liquidity enhancement strategies, pure bond strategies, and “Fixed Income+” strategies. Initially focused on absolute return funds and separate accounts, she began managing public funds in 2022, including pure bond funds and secondary bond funds.

Norde Fund Bond Investment Department Deputy Director Xu Juan

Steady and Far-reaching with Bottom-Line Thinking

In today’s rapidly evolving and increasingly volatile markets, long-term and prudent fixed income investors are gaining more recognition.

Xu Juan’s investment philosophy centers on staying close to the market, focusing on her core capabilities, and maintaining steady operations. Facing complex and changing environments, she insists on continuous cognitive iteration, staying within her ability boundaries, and pursuing stability to generate sustainable excess returns for investors.

When asked about her investment strengths, Xu Juan describes her style as “balanced.” As a female investor, she integrates her natural attentiveness, thoroughness, and sharpness into her decision-making. She perceives uncertainty more acutely, naturally emphasizes bottom-line thinking and risk control, and seeks the optimal balance between return and risk, demonstrating patience and resilience amid market fluctuations.

She also compares portfolio management to parenting, emphasizing the importance of long-termism. She does not pursue short-term linear growth but instead patiently navigates cycles, aiming for steady progress. In her framework, risk control is a fundamental principle—an inviolable bottom line. She first clarifies product positioning and client risk tolerance, then formulates strategies based on macro analysis, strictly adhering to investment boundaries.

Thanks to her over a decade of research and investment experience, Xu Juan has witnessed and experienced multiple asset class cycles, gradually building a comprehensive investment analysis system and gaining a deeper understanding of the universal law that “everything is cyclical.” In her investment approach, she balances long-term vision with short-term holding experiences, aiming for absolute returns while controlling drawdowns and striving for flexible gains, harmonizing holding comfort with achievable results.

Prioritizing Stability and Striving for Absolute Returns

In today’s markets, which are increasingly complex with rapid information flow, Xu Juan believes that liquidity remains ample, but bond yields are in a low-interest environment with limited upside. The stock market’s strength and rising risk appetite have caused periodic outflows from bonds. Considering both liquidity and fundamentals, the upside for bond yields is limited, and short-term movements are likely to be volatile. As the economy is a slow-moving variable, attention should be paid to economic policies, price indices, and investor behavior.

To maintain a stable mindset amid market fluctuations, Xu Juan emphasizes the importance of hobbies such as travel, reading, and knitting to recharge emotionally and support her decision-making. She actively conducts product roadshows and exchanges, systematically communicating product positioning and market views to help investors rationally understand market and product logic. She also empathizes with investors’ perspectives, remaining calm and resolute during volatility, and walking alongside clients for the long term.

Meanwhile, she maintains flexible trading strategies during turbulent markets, dynamically balancing upside potential and win rate. Her investment process centers on pursuing absolute returns, strictly controlling drawdowns, and seeking return flexibility. She moderately reduces portfolio risk exposure, adjusts duration structures flexibly, and continuously upgrades credit risk levels to keep the portfolio resilient across different market environments.

“In portfolio construction, I start with macro fundamentals and adopt a top-down approach. First, determine the duration center and yield targets, then allocate assets, and finally select securities from the bottom up,” Xu Juan explains. The primary goal of a product depends on its positioning; different products emphasize different balances. Currently, with limited upside in the bond market, safety is prioritized—risk is tightly controlled, operations are steady, and the goal is continuous net value appreciation.

A message:

Within my capability boundaries, I manage each portfolio carefully, cherish the trust and confidence of every investor. At the same time, I continuously expand my investment skills, aiming to handle more diverse strategies, serve a broader investor base, and contribute to inclusive finance.

For myself, I hope to face each day in a self-consistent and enjoyable way, calmly moving forward along my established path toward the future.

For investors, choosing products aligned with your risk preferences, practicing patience, and staying long-term will allow you to wait for the bloom.

Text / Xu Nannan Editing / Xu Nan