Mercer creates global asset class research boutiques
Mercer has announced plans to create a number of global asset class research boutiques within its investment consulting business.
The “specialty” boutiques will initially cover equity, fixed income, real estate, bond and alternative assets.
According to Mercer, the new structure means a significant investment will be made in people and infrastructure, with the current 80 employees in research set to increase by a dozen over the next year, while the business has plans to more than double staff in the real estate and alternatives areas.
Mercer has yet to announce who will head up the boutiques.
“With our large clients, the real competition is increasingly from specialty research firms who put all their resources into researching single asset classes,” Mercer investment consulting business global head Andrew Kirton said.
“By creating our own specialist teams … will be able to compete with specialist boutiques.
“In time, we intend to become the pre-eminent global research engine not only in equities and bonds but also in a number of asset classes in the alternatives space,” Kirton said.
Meanwhile, Mercer did not rule out a fee increase alongside the new boutiques.
“Greater expertise then allows us to charge more and invest more,” Kirton said.
However, this wouldn’t have an immediate effect.
“The added value has to come first,” Kirton said.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
