St James’s Place-owned Rowan Dartington recently opened its Asia-based International Division, extending its services to English-speaking advisers around the world.
Trevor Cheal, managing director, investment services at Rowan Dartington, said: “The feeling within Rowan Dartington is that we need to remain platform independent now that we are looking to be a global discretionary fund manager.
“For us the deal works well in that we will continue to be a discretionary fund manager on the Ardan platform, and with RL360°’s support we firmly believe the platform will grow and move on to greater and better things.
“The SJP deal means we have had to focus very much on our core business which is providing discretionary fund management services to the SJP partnership and into IFAs in the UK, and now globally.”
Rowan Dartington bought Ardan in 2014, billed as the first independent wealth platform designed exclusively for international advisers and their investors.
It provides a full-service platform for the adviser community globally which includes research tools, dealing, custody and client administration.
Licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, it deals with more than 70,000 funds and securities through multiple third party life and pension wrappers. The platform employs 12 staff, headed by CEO Richard Preston.
Preston said: “With RL360° we will have the backing of a major institution and our adviser community will benefit from continued investment in our award-winning platform service – we plan to stay ahead of the game and remain truly open-architecture; with unfettered investment choice inside a growing panel of DFM, life bond, pension and trust provider solutions. This is a very exciting time for us.”
