Albion Strategic Consulting (Albion), an independent investment consultancy, has formed a strategic partnership with P1 Investment Services (P1) to offer its smartersuccess™ investment service on a discretionary basis.
Albion’s smartersuccess™ service has been available for UK financial planning firms since 2006, supporting firms with building and running an efficient inhouse investment programme, based around each firm’s individual preferences and choices.
The partnership provides financial advisers access to Albion’s support with the portfolio construction process, ongoing governance, and client communications with the added benefit of operational efficiencies through P1’s discretionary service.
Advisers will continue to leverage Albion’s smartersuccess™ service to support their investment proposition on their preferred platforms.
However, by offering this service on a discretionary basis, P1 will take on the responsibility of execution and ongoing portfolio management, providing advisers with a more streamlined and cost-effective solution.
The collaboration will look to enhance efficiency for financial planning firms, alleviating the growing regulatory and administrative pressures advisers face. With P1 managing the operational aspects, including execution and portfolio oversight, advisers can focus on delivering high-quality financial planning services to their clients, confident that their investment processes are being handled with expertise.
Albion’s financial planning clients are responsible for more than £23bn in assets across markets from the UK to Australia. The company is widely trusted by more than 80 UK financial planning firms, including 19 of the 58 CISI Accredited Financial Planning Firms.
Ben Edwards, director of Albion, said: “We are delighted to bring this offering to the financial planning community through our collaboration with P1 Investment Services. This allows financial planning firms to benefit from a unique outsourced portfolio management service. This offering enables firms to build an understanding of – and high confidence in – the investment solution they offer to their clients, whilst also benefitting from best execution via a low-cost, high-value discretionary solution provided through an industry-leading discretionary management team.”
James Priday, CEO of P1 Investment Services, added: “We are excited to partner with Albion Strategic Consulting. Albion has been a pioneer in UK financial services, consistently delivering exceptional value to financial planning firms. Our shared philosophy is clear: investing should be systematic, low-cost, and focused on benefiting the end client.
“Together, we aim to empower advisers by taking care of the operational complexities, allowing them to dedicate more time to what they do best—delivering outstanding financial planning.”
Albion will continue to offer their smartersuccess™ as a subscription-based consulting service for adviser firms that want to continue running their model portfolios in different ways, such as on an advised basis.
