Trustees are often not investment gurus – but Matthew Spencer of Credit Suisse says his company's Portfolio Risk Analyzer can help simulate expertise

Trustees have a tough job. They have the obligation to consider investment risks on behalf of their beneficiaries and at the same time attempt to invest the assets following the prudent investor rule. Generally, trustees are experts in understanding and managing trusts, but not the underlying investments.

In our experience, failure to control the investment risks was painfully felt by a number of trustees during the recent global financial crisis, with their trust assets being diminished just weeks before their next scheduled quarterly investment review meeting. Without doubt the world and, with it, the financial markets, have apparently become more volatile in recent decades and performance could be achieved in various niches, but more seldom than before, by a simple 'buy and hold' strategy. At the same time, the risk-free interest rates in all major currencies remained at their nadir for a long while.