FASA 2022
DFMs

From an investment perspective, 2022 is a year which will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Not a single asset class has been immune from the extreme volatility that has plagued markets as inflation and interest rates have started creeping up.

This perhaps makes the role of discretionary fund managers more important than ever.

Chris Metcalfe, chief investment officer at IBOSS, says the market turmoil has placed greater emphasis on the support his company provides to advisers and their clients.

He says: “Although an overused word, it’s fair to say that 2022 has been ‘unprecedented’ in terms of how tough market conditions have been, with bonds and equities falling in unison for only the second time in the past 20 years.

“As such, we have felt this pain along with advisers and their clients and it has resulted in many more questions than previous years, therefore increasing the level of support they are looking for from us.”

One of the focuses for IBOSS has been on making sure that advisers and, if necessary, their clients, have access to every member of their team, from the chief investment officer and the chief operating officer down.

The company has also produced more material to keep advisers as up to date as possible with market movements and portfolio positions.

This has included written updates, webinars, one-to-one meetings and a podcast launched at the start of the year.

Sarah Lyons, chief marketing officer at Parmenion, also emphasises the importance of providing advisers with support during tough times.

She says: “It’s been a challenging year for all of us – the ongoing economic and political crises have caused significant volatility, causing customers to retrench and advisers to spend their time looking after their clients. 

“Here at Parmenion we have maintained our regular events schedule, making sure we reflect our market environment in our webinars every six weeks to help [advisers] help their clients. 

“We have continued to invest in our service, meaning advisers and their clients can reach one of our team within 20 seconds over 90 per cent of the time, giving much-needed information and support.”

Recent trends such as the rise of environmental, social and governance investing are all well and good, but 2022 has highlighted that the fundamentals of good service from DFMs – demonstrating and communicating a coherent and consistent approach to asset allocation and risk management – remain as important as ever.

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