Get beyond the long winded acronym and you’ll see encouraging signs of progress. Since being appointed chief executive in November 2010, ex-Gerrard chief Tim May has overseen some much needed change in the way APCIMS operates, especially in terms of how it benchmarks asset allocation.
Two new Private Investor Indices (PII) were introduced last year at different ends of the risk spectrum – Conservative and Global Growth – while a change to how it tracks global equities bodes well for making its indices more relevant.
That it is considering polling members on widening its coverage of bonds and alternatives through a change in representative FTSE indices should, if achieved, also bring the PIIs more in line with the multi-asset crowd.
Remaining relevant
Meeting May last month, he admitted to me that APCIMS had in past been guilty of failing to promote itself and its services. However, he is determined for the association to remain relevant to its 182 members in a post-RDR environment – the reappointment of the veteran Ian Cornwall as director of regulation, after he originally left in 2010, was a fillip in this regard.
The backwards-looking APCIMS PIIs are far from perfect and, in not being risk-weighted, they are pretty redundant in directing asset allocation; but then they were never meant to be. But, as head of investment & member services Jason Baxter told me this week, they are evolving, and APCIMS is open to suggestions from its members on how to improve its offering.
“Where there is a demand and a requirement seen across a significant proportion of our membership, and where the tools are available (i.e. the relevant underlying indices) then we would create something,” he said.
Five years on
“It is important that what we have is both relevant now and flexible enough to maintain its relevance in the future. I would hate to find that five years from now people tell me they no longer used the APCIMS indices as they ceased being relevant for one reason or another. It is our responsibility to see that this does not happen.”
In the likes of AIFA and IFP, the IFA and financial planning community is fortunate to be represented by some informed and proactive trade associations, but the more specialist investment advice community has arguably been less well served. APCIMS still has a key role to play, so let’s get behind it.
