The new strategic alliance is aimed at giving The Fry Group clients an enhanced investment proposition that is consistent across its client base in all jurisdictions where it operates, using Jersey-headquartered ISG for the investment management.
In the UK, the investment platform will be available to clients through Purple Strategic Capital, which is the research and digital management arm of ISG.
In Singapore, the strategic alliance will take the form of a joint venture, Purple Asset Management (PAM). Regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Mas), PAM will offer investment services to clients across south-east Asia from its Singapore offices.
Jeremy Woodley, The Fry Group’s sales and marketing director, said: “In simple terms we have created a global investment proposition on a global platform that will be available in multiple currencies, regulated in our key markets.
“By platform we mean a wrap that has all the tax wrappers someone could need whether in the UK or overseas, clearly bar a few places that specific contracts are required. Today it’s just available in sterling but will get multi-currency next year.”
He added that that for around 40 years as a business, The Fry Group had “coped with the tools at our disposal to assist clients around the world. They haven’t though always worked when a globally mobile client bank came back home or went overseas”.
As a result, it looked at how to solve the need to change contracts and underlying investments as clients moved around and to provide better client outcomes, in a transparent and cost efficient way.
“Nucleus have been working with us too on this to provide the single platform solution. I think both Nucleus and ISG would see themselves as technology businesses which is a refreshing perspective when dealing with them.”
Strategic alliance bearing fruit
PAM will use Purple Strategic Capital’s established proprietary process, Quantimental, along with independent digitally-enabled investment research options as part of the new platform offering.
Symon Stickney, group chief executive of ISG, said the strategic alliance is already bearing fruit in the joint venture PAM.
“We look forward to working with The Fry Group as we develop PAM as a market leading asset manager in Singapore, and are thrilled to be delivering a global integrated investment solution for their growing client base around the world.”
The Fry Group, which has offices in the UK, Belgium, Spain, Hong Kong and Singapore, already has around £1.6bn ($2.1bn, €1.8bn) in assets on its investment service platform.
ISG is a fintech group offering digitalising investment management solutions through a B2B approach,
It established in London in 2010, set up its Jersey headquarters in 2014 and added Singapore and Manchester offices in 2016.
The Asian joint venture Purple Asset Management, was set up in Singapore in 2016 and officially launched after regulation in 2017.
In 2016 and 2017, The Fry Group won the Best Adviser Firm award at International Adviser’s Best Practice Adviser Awards.
