Old Mutual's new wealth unit to offer 'integrated‚ holistic' service

Old Mutual Wealth has moved away from the group's traditional product- and distribution-focused approach to concentrate more on clients' needs‚ said the unit's chief executive‚ Andrew Bradley‚ on Tuesday (20 August).

The new unit has assets under management of slightly more than R200bn and has 220‚000 clients. "Our goal is to make sure we get more clients and that we look after all their money‚" Bradley said. "Each of the seven business units that have been drawn into the wealth division bring different strengths‚" he added.

The new unit will draw on the "advice philosophy" of Acsis - a high net worth private client business that Bradley used to head.

The unit's technology will be modelled on that of Fairbairn Capital‚ while Symmetry Multi-Manager will provide fund manager research.

Old Mutual Unit Trusts allows investors to pool assets in unit trusts and offers access to Old Mutual Investment Group.

Access to international platform

Access to the international platform comes from Old Mutual International‚ while Old Mutual Actuaries & Consultants offers investment consulting expertise.

Celestis compiles training material for financial advisors and helps them to run their businesses.

The Fairbairn‚ Symmetry and Old Mutual Actuaries & Consultants brands will in time disappear. However‚ Old Mutual will keep the Acsis brand as the client base will remain. It was expected to take two years to complete the integration into one business unit‚ Bradley said.

Old Mutual recently bought Fairheads Trust Company‚ a fiduciary‚ trust and investment management company‚ which will also be drawn into the wealth unit. Plans are under way to introduce a private client securities business in 2013 to offer stock broking. Old Mutual Wealth is targeting clients with R5m or more to invest.

"The key manifestation of our success is that in the R5m and up (market) we are the substantive player‚" Bradley said.

He said most other offerings in the wealth and investment areas were "disjointed"‚ while he believed Old Mutual Wealth was the first with an integrated‚ holistic offering for clients. The initial cost of putting a client on the Old Mutual Wealth platform is R570 with a monthly administration fee starting at R100 and capped at R500.

Bradley said the business model was "bold" as it would not pay commissions to financial advisors. "In our view‚ financial advisors represent their clients‚ so they agree with their clients how they are going to be paid and have a fiduciary responsibility to the client‚" he said.