Spotlight on Sebastian Schiele, Global Head, Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales, Xtrackers by DWS
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Sebastian Schiele, Global Head, Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales, Xtrackers by DWS
In my role as the Global Head, Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales at DWS Group, my global role is to create customised index and rules-based investment solutions for asset owners, asset managers and intermediaries across a variety of wrapper types.
My team’s area of expertise ranges from traditional and smart beta to the integration of fundamental and sustainability objectives into index-linked and rules-based investment portfolios.
At Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales we help clients gain index or rules-based exposure with a particular focus on customised, client-specific implementation. Strategies are deployed across segregated mandates, ETFs and index funds, and my team interfaces directly with product and portfolio management colleagues, driving solutions design and implementation with maximum flexibility for our clients.
Key developments in passive + index-linked mandates
The first key development is the increasing need for greater precision in achieving client-defined outcomes. In passive and index-linked mandates, this translates into the need for highly flexible implementation, including whether through synthetic and hybrid replication, or deployment in portfolio completion. The ability to engineer exposures with granularity, integrate ESG or regulatory constraints, and manage frictions such as access costs and liquidity is now a key consideration in certain mandates.
The second key development is asset owners’ sharpening focus on the total cost of ownership. Investors utilise benchmark allocations for their performance-predictability, yet rising cost consciousness and regulatory requirements have accelerated interest in enhanced indexing as a disciplined means of earning back those costs. Techniques that systematically capture structural premia, reduce unrewarded risks, or exploit implementation efficiencies allow investors to retain broad exposure to index performance while improving the portfolio’s after-cost return profile.
These developments, taken together, redefine both the opportunity set and the risk landscape in equities from an index investor perspective, bearing advantages from a combination of indexing expertise with precise, highly customisable and cost efficient implementation.
And lastly, the third key development is that global equity markets are being reshaped by a decisive shift from global to regional dynamics, with geopolitical fragmentation now a structural feature, no longer a cyclical concern. The rewiring of supply chains, industrial policy, and security driven capital allocation are generating more persistent divergences across regions and sectors. For institutional investors, this creates a dual challenge, particularly for benchmark-driven allocations: maintaining broad, diversified market exposure while tilting portfolios in an attempt at increasing resilience against more regionalised shocks and impact on returns.
Implications for sophisticated investors
The growing demand for precise, client-defined outcomes requires far greater flexibility in passive implementation. Investors should favour mandate structures that allow for custom portfolio engineering, for example, combining physical and synthetic index replication or using derivative overlays, so they can fine-tune exposures, integrate ESG criteria, and efficiently complete allocations where off-the-shelf indices fall short. This tailored approach helps capture niche opportunities and align the portfolio closely with strategic objectives, all while preserving an index-like risk profile.
Even as investors rely on predictable, benchmark-like returns as part of their asset allocation, they could employ enhanced indexing techniques to claw back the costs of investing across both portfolio and service providers. By systematically harvesting incremental returns, as a combination of optimised rebalancing, intelligent factor tilts, and minimising transaction drag, investors can improve the portfolio’s net performance while staying close to the chosen benchmark.
In practice, capitalising on these trends calls for partnering with passive managers capable of delivering robust exposure management across regions, bespoke implementation methods, and disciplined, cost-efficient index enhancements.
Geopolitical fragmentation is now a structural reality and no longer considered a passing phase. As global tensions shift to the regional arena, portfolios need global diversification that is reflective of local risks. This means maintaining broad market exposure while actively managing region-specific allocations, and assigning benchmarks with sufficient flexibility, or portfolio rules that allow greater deviations where required.
Sebastian will be presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Equities Investment Forum, taking place on Thursday, 12 March 2026 in Sydney CBD, New South Wales. To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zlatan@globalii.com.au.
Sebastian Schiele, Global Head, Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales, Xtrackers by DWS
Sebastian is the Global Head, Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales at DWS. His team has global responsibility for creating bespoke index and rules based investment solutions for and with asset owners, asset managers and intermediaries across wrappers. The team’s area of expertise ranges from traditional and smart beta to the integration of fundamental and sustainability objectives into index-linked and rules-based investment portfolios.
The Xtrackers Mandates & Solutions Sales team help clients gain index or rules based exposure with a particular focus on customised, client-specific implementation. Strategies are deployed across segregated mandates, ETFs and index funds, and the team interfaces directly with Product and Portfolio Management colleagues, driving solutions design and implementation with maximum flexibility for clients.
Sebastian joined the Xtrackers Passive team in 2009 with a background in banking and asset management consulting, he holds an M.Sc. in Finance from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, a CFA UK Certificate in Climate and Investing and is an EFFAS Certified ESG Analyst.
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