Old Mutual Wealth, the London-based retail wealth management arm of LSE-listed insurance giant Old Mutual, today unveiled what it is calling its new “flagship” range of investment portfolios aimed at international investors.
The Old Mutual Compass Portfolio range is the first product range launch to emerge from a multi-asset unit formed at Old Mutual Wealth last year, which is being run by Anthony Gillham and Ben Mountain.
The launch of the new range comes as Old Mutual Wealth, like other companies in the industry, is responding to major changes in the retail marketplace, many of which have been brought about by such new regulatory packages as RDR in the UK, by expanding into areas of financial services in which it had not had a presence, or had less of one. At OMW, as at other companies, this has meant creating a more vertically-integrated business.
As reported, OMW announced in February that it was to acquire a major Singaporean advisory firm, AAM Advisory; it previously had acquired the UK Intrinsic advisory network in 2014, then bought the UK wealth manager Quilter Cheviot later that year.
Most recently, its parent announced last month that it was to break up its business into four separate units by 2018, in an effort to cut costs. The four units would be the company’s South African bank, Nedbank; OM Asset Management, Old Mutual Emerging Markets, and Old Mutual Wealth.
‘Combine best-in-class capabilities’
According to Old Mutual Wealth, the new range “will combine the best-in-class capabilities from Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) and Quilter Cheviot”, and be made available through both Old Mutual International and Quilter Cheviot.
In a statement unveiling the new range, Old Mutual Wealth said the portfolios had been designed to provide international investors with exposure to professionally managed, risk-targeted portfolios.
The portfolios would reflect, OMW added, the leveraging of “the complementary skills of OMGI, in portfolio management, and Quilter Cheviot, in fund research – as well as pooling both businesses’ expertise in stock picking”.
This, it added, would help to ensure that the portfolios benefited from the best investment opportunities available globally, including funds, direct equities and bonds, investment trusts, and alternative investments.
All of the portfolios in the range will aim to generate “a long-term total return, while effectively managing downside risk”, Old Mutual Wealth said.
“By adopting a risk-targeted approach, with defined volatility parameters for each portfolio, investors will have a better idea of how their investments are likely to perform over the long term, throughout various market conditions.”
The portfolios’ investment manager is OMGI, and they will be co-managed by Gillham and Sacha Chorley.
There will be a range of four portfolios (Compass 2 to Compass 5), designed to match a different risk profile, with Compass 2 targeting the lowest level and Compass 5 the highest (based on a scale of 1 to 5).
