Profile takes investment management responsibility

Profile Financial Services has partnered with Select Asset Management to provide its clients with an alternative to the traditional strategic asset allocation approach to portfolio construction, which many planners have found wanting, according to Profile chief executive Sarah Abood.

The joint venture has resulted in the development of two multi-manager, multi-asset class portfolios called the Profile Preservation and Accumulation portfolios. Set to be launched in March, they would see Profile act as the investment manager while Select provided investment consulting and responsible entity services.

Abood said Profile decided on the joint venture due to its frustration with the limitations and inconsistencies of the traditional SAA approach. She said, particularly during times of market stress, traditional methods and products often did not allow planners to move as quickly or substantially as they would have liked.

“And traditional fund managers need to primarily manage their risk in relation to each other and to the passive benchmarks — whereas our risk, and that of our clients, hangs more on not delivering against plan, and against cash as the true opportunity cost of investing.”

Abood said Profile sought to place the client’s and their unique goals at the heart of the process, but could not find what they needed among existing products. Profile therefore set out to create funds that were driven by client needs while the planners were accountable for driving the key investment decisions, she added.

Chief executive Andrew Fairweather said Select's Customised Portfolio Services (CPS) were in demand from dealer groups looking to take greater control over the investment management component of the value chain. He said dealer groups understood how regulatory changes would impact on their business and were looking to create more robust, best of breed portfolios for their clients.