Member Article

Blackfinch Asset Management reaches crucial three-year milestone following success of MPS range

Blackfinch Asset Management is pleased to announce that its Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) is celebrating its three-year anniversary since launch. During this time, the team has expanded five times, has welcomed over 50 partner firms, and assets under management have increased threefold.

After joining in 2018, co-directors Alex Sumner and Gareth Deacon launched the Blackfinch MPS in July 2018 in a competitive space, offering a unique service proposition within a saturated market. The Blackfinch MPS sets itself apart by working with select adviser firms, offering a tailored and bespoke service.

Alex and Gareth have also played a leadership role in ensuring the MPS range is managed to meet Blackfinch’s group-wide environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Not only do they adopt a quantitative and qualitative approach to ESG, where positive screening is employed, they actively prioritise investments where investment managers directly engage with portfolio companies on ESG issues, and where Blackfinch’s active approach to ESG is shared.

Richard Cook, Founder and CEO of Blackfinch Group, welcomed the milestone: “It’s been a great 2021 for our MPS range, which now has a three-year track record to be proud of. Earlier this year, the range earned Defaqto’s Five Diamond rating, which recognises excellence in portfolio construction, outstanding service and value for money, as well as achieving on investment objectives.

“It’s been a pleasure to watch Alex and Gareth build out the proposition and the team from scratch, and their success is down to the way their portfolios expertly capture the prevailing market environment while looking after the needs of their investors.”

The Blackfinch multi-asset portfolio range includes five total return portfolios (Defensive, Cautious, Balanced, Growth and Enhanced Growth) as part of the MPS. Each portfolio is targeted to deliver returns of between CPI +1% and +5.

“The objectives were driven by a key requirement to satisfy MiFID II and PROD requirements. Returns are relatable and relevant to the end client, as well as complementing the cash flow forecasting models used by advisers.

Alex Sumner, Investment Director: “We created our MPS range in consultation with adviser firms, which helped us identify gaps in an overcrowded market where other managed portfolio services looked and felt the same. They helped us to build a solution that puts clients first, complemented rather than challenged what was already in the market, an approach that has led to the success of the proposition so far.

“Our business model allows us to work with a select number of partner firms and our solutions can meet client demands for accessible, diversified offerings aligned with ESG factors. The next phase will see us working with more of our partner firms on new projects, such as ESG implementation, as well as training and engaging with new clients.”

Gareth Deacon, Investment Director: “We’re thrilled to be celebrating the three-year anniversary with all our portfolios delivering on their inflation-beating objectives. Since launch we have always put the client first and looked to deliver a diversified offering.

“This has attracted a combination of assets that allow our approach to work for all. We work closely with our partner firms and continued adviser demand means we’re anticipating launching additional sub-funds within the range later this year. Watch this space.”

Blackfinch Asset Management’s distribution team welcomed Paul Lanigan as Distribution Strategy Director from Standard Life earlier this year, and is continuing its expansion with an additional Business Development Manager set to join the team in July.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Isabella Storey .