Tailored and Customised Service

Each one of our clients is unique, therefore our discretionary portfolio management services are fully-tailored to each client on a client-by-client basis, depending on their level of wealth, investment objectives, appetite for risk, personal circumstances, life stage and geographic location.

We adopt a highly professional approach to managing our clients’ money, supported by a well-structured investment process.

We place great emphasis on assessing our clients’ needs to ascertain their goals and investment objectives, thereby defining a personalised investment profile for each client.

We view portfolio management as a two-way process and any individual mandate is agreed between both parties before being implemented. This allows us to reach a mutual understanding regarding the management of your money so we can align your personal preferences and objectives with our capabilities. This removes the responsibility for day-to-day decision making from you and places it on us.

Trust, transparency, flexibility, pro-active communication, and ongoing review are fundamental elements to maintaining a successful relationship.

In keeping with our personal approach, you will have a dedicated investment professional appointed to you, whom you can access directly at any point. They are highly qualified and have gained significant practical experience. We aim to forge long-standing relationships by providing a quality service on an individual basis, being committed to realising your investment goals and sharing our investment knowledge with you. This is all underpinned by a proactive and open approach to our communication with you.

Investment Process

We undertake a rigorous process to define your investment mandate and optimise the management of your portfolio.

Initially, we will work with you to establish your investment profile by identifying your goals, expectations and requirements. This is to gain a comprehensive view of your risk tolerance, performance targets, personal circumstances and income requirements, so that a suitable investment profile can be constructed. Together we will set your objectives and ensure these are mutually understood and agreed from the outset.

Once your investment is established, we continuously monitor its management. Your portfolio can then be adjusted as necessary, so that our focus remains aligned with yours should your circumstances change – enabling optimal portfolio management.

Investment Philosophy

Our investment philosophy is to protect, manage and enhance the wealth of our clients.

• We offer clients a modern flexible investment approach with a proven track record.
• Active management using a "core and satellite" approach - the core element seeks to capture market "beta" whilst the "satellite" element drives value added performance. We have the freedom to invest in the full spectrum of asset classes including equity, bond, property, commodities and alternative investments such as hedge funds.
• We seek to outperform through timely asset allocation and security selection decisions.
• We offer a flexible investment style, able to reflect both absolute and relative mind sets. We are pragmatic investors, prepared to employ any style, philosophy or type of investment instrument that we believe will enable us to meet our clients’ objectives.
• We are practical investors, seeking to provide clients with the most cost effective investment solutions.
• We aim to deliver consistent long-term growth with lower volatility than equity indices through dynamic asset allocation and effective diversification between a range of alpha, beta and non correlated sources of return over time.

Our investment solutions benefit from a well integrated investment organisation with strong cross fertilisation of ideas and in-depth knowledge covering areas of specialisation that include:

• Exposure to a wide variety of asset classes, managers and investment styles within a single portfolio structure.
• Broad based asset allocation expertise within a highly disciplined framework.
• Rigorous manager selection across the full range of asset classes on a global basis using a long-standing highly disciplined manager evaluation process.
• Proven expertise in sensibly using structured investments to provide efficient portfolio hedging and low cost portfolio protection.

Investment Approach and Risk Profiles

Investment Approach

We use a range of styles to meet your objectives, whether you are looking to preserve capital, maximise growth or generate income. These can be set on an absolute or total return basis.

• Multi-asset approach to provide additional diversification and to enhance risk adjusted return.
• Adopt Central Case Asset Allocation (“CCAA”) that reflects SPC strategic and tactical policy (in terms of total return objective through income generation and capital growth) incorporating:
  • Fixed interest and cash (for predictable income);
  • Equities (for long-term capital appreciation and income growth);
  • Alternatives (strategic and tactical, to skew portfolio for different anticipated market conditions).
• Direct relationship with the Investment Manager responsible for the formulation and execution of the investment strategy:
  • Quarterly portfolio commentaries;
  • Regular meetings with the Investment Manager to discuss investment performance and outlook.

Managing Risk

We place our clients’ risk and return aspirations at the centre of our investment process. Guided by us, you set the risk parameters according to your tolerance to risk. We work within them, utilising a blend of asset types or combining the investment styles and expertise of different managers to achieve optimised risk/return objectives for you.

Why Choose Kleinwort Benson to Manage the Portfolio?

We have:

• Developed the 3M's principle (Multi-asset, Multi-style and Multi-manager)
• A tried and tested Investment Philosophy
• Access to innovative products and in-house experts in specialist investments
• Depth of investment expertise with a well integrated investment structure in place
• A robust investment process
• A fully integrated Strategic Policy Committee
• Structured asset allocation through a Central Case Asset Allocation (“CCAA”) approach for the construction of client portfolios
• A robust bottom-up manager/instrument selection process
• Regional flexibility within a rigid policy framework
• A collegiate approach to Policy decisions
• The service culture of a small private bank combined with the financial stability of a major British institution
• A direct relationship with investment managers all based offshore
• Extensive knowledge of offshore and tax efficient vehicles, managing trusts, company, private individuals and pension funds