What do you see as the main challenges in offering advisory stockbroking?
Recent developments in the regulatory landscape, such as the Retail Distribution Review, Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products, enhanced Anti-Money Laundering and Suitability, in addition to rising technology costs, have a significant influence on how smaller firms offer advisory stockbroking services.
How do you set yourselves apart from your peers?
Our dedicated investment managers personally look after each and every one of our clients and their wealth, creating truly bespoke relationships with each client on their own terms. We have honest conversations with our clients, keeping them informed via their preferred method of communication every step of the way.
We are a specialist firm, focused solely on wealth management. Our full range of services include discretionary and advisory investment management and stockbroking. Each individual portfolio is built within our flexible investment framework and takes account of a client’s investment objectives and level of risk tolerance.
Our investment managers are supported by our in-house research team, analysts and industry leading tools.
Can you describe the way you risk-rate portfolios for your clients?
Our objective is to produce great outcomes for our clients, in line with their appetite, capacity and requirement for risk. This is what we mean by aiming to generate the best risk-adjusted returns.
One of the core principles of our process is a structured approach to creating investment outcomes that match the risk profiles of our clients.
In order to formalise this process and create a disciplined framework within which to work, we have developed seven risk profiles, ranging from highly risk averse to highly risk tolerant. Each of these profiles has been ascribed its own proprietary composite benchmark, made up of investable component benchmarks.
In essence, the riskier the profile, the more equity exposure its benchmark contains; while for less-risky portfolios the proportion of fixed income, alternatives and cash increases.
Where are Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management’s in-house funds marketed around the world and in which jurisdictions do they feature most prominently?
We work with global strategic distribution partners, who distribute the CGWM Select fund range in other jurisdictions such as the UAE, Singapore and south-east Asia.
What are your expectations for the business climate and the market outlook through the rest of 2017?
In our latest investment market update, we highlighted that it is clear Donald Trump’s victory continues to have a positive influence on risk assets. However, we also noted that there is an absence of the irrational exuberance that normally marks the top of financial markets, which is a sure sign that there is some nervousness around.
Although our investment managers are moderately bullish towards risk assets on the back of a gently improving global economic backdrop, we are also mindful of potential risks on the horizon and we continue to explore alternatives along with a broadened range of investments for our clients.
