Bankers & Investment Counsellors, Why Join Us?
Often, the pressures faced by investment professionals are under appreciated. Striving to manage and meet the expectations of clients in the midst of volatile market conditions, coupled with firm and management demands, the forces around can indeed be overwhelming. It takes a strong heart and a stronger sense of conviction to stay on the course to be a good steward of our clients’ trust and their assets.
You might be exploring independence for the first time, or this might be 5th year since you first considered it, but in both cases, you still find the option daunting and find it difficult to muster up the courage to take the leap of faith.
The questions in your mind are multi-faceted:
Will my clients follow me?
Even if they wanted to, would the assets they have be portable?
Will I be able to get strong operational support?
What will the investment support be like?
We’ve gone through the journey before and recognized that there are many steps to be taken, and it could take months of preparation and more than a year before the transition is complete.
One of our key goals at Covenant Capital is to empower investment professionals to be excellent stewards of their clients’ assets. We recognize that we need to journey with our friends to cross the line. Why?
Because it’s well worth the effort!!
It’s hard to put a price tag on the deep satisfaction that comes with knowing that we have done our job for our clients to the best of our ability!
We would be more than happy to chat through things over a cup of coffee, but here are a few key fundamental differences in the business model:
Aligned Interests
Through the fee based model, our compensation (both investment professional and firm) are pegged to the value of the clients’ portfolio. By not receiving fees from the banks and fund managers, our interests are truly aligned with the clients’.
We recognize that some Asian clients prefer to pay a transaction fee rather than an ongoing management or adviser fee. Yet we can see that investor mentality is shifting, and they are seeing the risks associated with the transaction fee model (e.g. lack of post sales monitoring and due diligence.) and are willing to give the fee based model a shot. Over time, we believe that this will be the dominant industry model.
Open Investment Architecture
One of the often-touted benefits of independence is that access to street-wide research and best of breeds products.
Yet in this day and age when one is swamped with information, this can be a daunting fact. Bankers and Investment Counsellors often have trouble keeping up with one firm’s research and investment ideas. Sifting through 5 firms’ research might not be the most appealing alternative.
Here’s where a key strength of Covenant Capital comes in. The thought leadership and depth of experience of the CIO’s office provides the much needed investment direction. The team provides the much-needed support to our bankers and investment counsellors by sifting through the wheat from the chaff and distilling key macroeconomic research to chart the way forward.