Approach & Services
Jagger & Associates specializes in investment consultancy for pension funds, endowment funds, charities, and other institutions. For the majority of our clients we provide a full institutional investment advice service. We also offer service on Investment Committees and provide Trustee Training sessions.
We cannot provide advice to individuals other than in certain limited circumstances, e.g. the valuation of trusts, options, and other financial elements within court cases.
We provide support to other actuarial consultancies who do not have their own investment departments, one-off project work, which includes Second Opinion work, Expert Witness work (for example, on whether an investment manager has breached the terms of its appointment), and advice on investment strategy for schemes during wind-up.
We provide insightful, thought provoking, and frank institutional investment consultancy as a fresh, independent advisor. We are not constrained by "house views", and are thus able to give wider comment than some of our competitors.
Our approach to our clients' investment needs
Analyse
Establish a clear picture of each client's liability profile and objectives.
Understand the future benefit / cash outflows if these can be identified.
Understand the investment return clients need to find, and consider how much investment risk clients thus need to take.
Consider the current investment structure - are changes required to the asset classes and / or investment managers used?
Consider alternative risk reduction measures, such as (for pension funds) full buy-out, buy-ins, transfers out, liability driven investments (LDI).
Implement
Provide appropriate solutions to clients' needs but not excessively bespoke ones. We believe in providing cost-effective practical solutions, rather than being overdriven from a theoretical perspective.
Provide potential long lists for investment manager selection for the client to choose a short list, and then arrange and attend interviews.
Arrange for the transfer of assets, being mindful of minimising out-of market exposure, and controlling transaction costs.
Monitor
Provide monitoring of investment performance at the individual fund level and at the overall portfolio level, at a frequency suited to the specific client's circumstances.
Ensure clear understanding of the drivers behind each client's performance is achieved at meetings, leading to informed decision-making.
Monitor the ongoing cashflow management of a particular client where appropriate.
Authorisation to provide regulated advice
Jagger and Associates Ltd is regulated in respect of a range of investment business activities by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, in its capacity as a Designated Professional Body (DPB). The DPB handbook requires the following statement to be included on our website:
"Jagger & Associates Ltd is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 but we are able in certain circumstances to offer a limited range of investment services to clients because we are members (as defined under that Act) of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, a Designated Professional Body. We can provide these investment services if they are an incidental part of the professional services we have been engaged to provide."
In practice, the vast majority of investment advice provided by Jagger & Associates Ltd is not classified as "investment advice" as far as the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 is concerned. For example, from the above list of services we provide to institutional clients, only asset transfers and manager selection exercises are classed as regulated investment advice (where related to pooled funds). Consequently, the "incidental" test is rarely an issue.