Reimagining Active Fund Management

A New Lens on the Future of Active Investing

Active fund management has reached a crossroads. After years of pressure from passive strategies, fee compression, and increasingly efficient markets, many investors have questioned whether active approaches still have a place in modern portfolios.

But what if the issue isn’t active management itself, but the way the industry has practiced it?

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“I realised the industry wasn’t just struggling. It was using the wrong tools.”

- Peter Garnry, CEO & Co-founder, Gesda Capital

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In this episode of Wealth Insider, host Christian Lindvall sits down with Peter Garnry, former Chief Investment Strategist at Saxo Bank and now co-founder of Gesda Capital, to explore why he believes the future of active investing requires a fundamental rethink.

With more than 14 years inside one of Europe’s leading investment banks and deep experience across macro, equities, quantitative strategy, and risk modelling, Peter shares a rare inside look into the evolution of active investing and why launching a high-conviction fund was the natural next step in his journey.

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The Shift from Strategist to Entrepreneur

Peter’s story begins long before Saxo Bank: early childhood curiosity, the rise of online brokers in the early 2000s, and a fascination with data and market structure. Those early threads eventually led to 14 years at Saxo, where Peter grew from equity strategist to leading the bank’s global strategy team.

But with experience came clarity.

Peter saw first-hand how traditional active management struggled:

• Over-diversification diluted conviction
• Rigid labels like “value,” “growth,” or “small-cap” constrained decision-making
• Many managers relied on backward-looking screeners instead of forward-looking insight
• Short-term horizons became unwinnable due to algorithmic dominance

This realization became the catalyst for Gesda Capital.

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Why Active Investing Needs a New Approach

Gesda Capital is built on a simple but demanding mission:

To prove that a concentrated, high-conviction global equity fund can outperform passive strategies over decades, not quarters.

Rather than starting with screener-based filters, Gesda begins with macro and thematic vectors, the big forces that will shape global demand over the next 10–20 years. Only then do they identify the companies best positioned to benefit, evaluate competitive advantages, run valuation models, and apply a rigorous investment checklist.

In Peter’s view, this is where active managers can reclaim lost ground.

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“The real opportunity isn’t in the short term. It’s in the long-term themes where human insight still matters.”

- Peter Garnry, CEO & Co-founder, Gesda Capital

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The result is a deeply thematic, concentrated portfolio supported by data, human insight, and long-term thinking.

This hybrid philosophy positions Gesda Capital as a potential satellite allocation for wealth managers operating under core-satellite frameworks, bringing targeted exposure to structural themes such as cybersecurity, European defence rearmament, and AI-driven transformation.

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What Wealth Managers Can Learn from This Approach

Throughout the episode, Peter unpacks lessons that resonate across the wealth management industry:

• Markets have become too efficient for short-term active trading. Long-term thematic conviction is becoming the true battleground.
• Diversification is often misunderstood. Too much of it is simply closet indexing, not risk management.
• Risk construction is evolving. Machine learning and clustering can replace blunt 1/N allocation.
• Active management needs transparency and intellectual honesty. Two things investors increasingly demand.
• Entrepreneurship in finance is not only possible but necessary for innovation.

His insights challenge long-held assumptions and open the door to new conversations about what active management should look like in the decade ahead.

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Why This Conversation Matters for the Future of Wealth Management

The wealth management landscape is shifting.

Client expectations are growing more complex. Technologies like AI and machine learning are reshaping research and risk analysis. And geopolitical dynamics are influencing markets in ways we haven’t seen in decades.

Against this backdrop, the principles Peter discusses are becoming essential:

• Clear investment frameworks
• High conviction
• Thematic depth
• Transparent risk processes
• Data-informed portfolio construction

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“The future belongs to managers who can combine data with narrative.”

- Peter Garnry, CEO & Co-founder, Gesda Capital

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Whether you’re a wealth manager, family office, investment advisor, or capital allocator, the episode offers a blueprint for how active strategies can evolve and where they might find renewed purpose.

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Watch the Full Episode

Explore the full conversation to learn how Gesda Capital is looking to reshape the future of active fund management.

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About Wealth Insider

Wealth Insider is a podcast by Performativ, exploring the strategies, technology, and people shaping the future of wealth management. Each episode brings candid conversations with leaders across investment management, private banking, fintech, and regulation.