Russell Investments has hired Candriam Investors Group’s head of UK and Ireland sales to push its Dublin-based Sicavs to the professional investor market, but it faces a tough sell in a crowded market.
Chris Davies will oversee Russell’s domestic intermediary business in the role of head of UK distribution for retail and wholesale.
He reports to Joe Linhares, head of EMEA at Russell Investments, who described Davies as the “perfect person to lead our UK retail business forward”.
Linhares added: “Advisers in the UK have increasingly turned to investment solutions providers to help them meet the growing needs of their clients. With over 30 years of industry experience, Chris knows this marketplace extremely well.”
UK’s crowded multi-manager space
Tilney managing director Jason Hollands said Russell has aspirations to extent its footprint in what is already a crowded multi-manager space.
“That’s already quite a crowded space with a plethora of both discretionary managers and fund management firms supporting financial advisers with outsourced investment management services, as well as making such funds available to direct investors. A number of direct to consumer platforms have also developed their own products,” he said.
Shore Financial Planning director Ben Yearsley agreed the multi-manager market is very competitive, saying not everyone will be successful.
“You either need super low charges, well above average performance or a very different investment proposition,” he said.
Volatility set to aid fund-of-funds
Davies spent three years in his role at Candriam and prior to that, led Fidelity Worldwide’s wealth service and personal investing sales in the UK. He has also held sales and business development roles at Prudential and Lloyds.
He said he was joining Russell at a pivotal time for retail asset management in the UK market. “As we enter the 10th year of the current bull market, we will likely see increased volatility in the years ahead. And we believe a multi-asset or manager-of-manager approach could help secure financial futures.”
Russell Investments manages $290bn in assets throughout 31 countries and provides consulting services on $2.3trn. However, to date it has had a limited presence in the UK retail and intermediary market.
