Bespoke portfolio services

Outsourcing investment management frees you from day-to-day involvement in your clients’ investments, but it doesn’t mean losing control. You have direct contact with the investment manager who’s looking after your clients’ money.

You tell us how you would like our relationship to work. We will do whatever works best for you and meets our respective suitability obligations.

From the whole of the market

Our investment process is designed to meet each client’s individual financial and ethical requirements. With an unrestricted choice of investments, our investment managers have the freedom to find the best options for each client’s goals. That includes asset classes, funds and other structures that may not be open to all investors.

Not all firms give their managers this flexibility. We do and it’s an important advantage. It gives our investment managers more opportunity to apply the buying power of Rathbones and their professional expertise for your clients.

We do our own ethical research

We have our own in-house ethical research team, which is central to our commitment to providing investments that are genuinely ethical and sustainable. We do not want your clients' values to be compromised by investments that do not meet these standards.

The research team closely monitors the business activities as well as the social and environmental performance of companies, so we know who is leading the way and who to avoid. We meet with companies to make sure they do what they say and we ask the difficult questions.

Our research keeps us at the forefront of evolving ethical, social and environmental issues. Timely, balanced analysis from our research team helps our investment managers understand how new developments affect clients’ portfolios and future investment choices.

It takes consistency to achieve long-term success

Our first priority is to protect your clients’ money. We aim to achieve consistent returns over the long term without taking excessive risk with clients’ capital. Our investment managers work hard to minimise volatility by looking ahead to anticipate when and how markets will move. They manage portfolios according to each client’s attitude to risk and will adjust the investment strategy if clients’ circumstances or financial priorities change.

The very low turnover among our investment managers maintains continuity in portfolios and deepens the trust that is a feature of our relationships with advisers.

Our long-term focus is supported by the stability of our operating platform. Its dependable performance is central to our reputation for quality, high satisfaction ratings from clients and regular awards for client service.

Clear and efficient reporting

Efficient administration and reporting make it easy for you to keep your clients informed about their investments. You will receive valuations every quarter and with our online service, you have instant access to up-to-date information.

On paper and online, everything is in one place. You can analyse portfolios and compare present and prior years, which allows you to have a fuller conversation about investment performance with your client and investment manager.

We have made our technology compatible with the needs of advisers. Data can be downloaded directly to most systems to take the effort out of reporting.

Have more hours in the day

Compliance obligations take up more and more of advisers’ time. By outsourcing investment management decisions, you can transfer the compliance risk to us, giving you more time to focus on your clients and your business.

We understand that you need to be certain your clients and your reputation are in safe hands. Our due diligence process is supportive and, because our performance data is verified independently, you get a true picture of actual clients under management.

We will use our knowledge of good practice to suggest simple measures to keep you on the right side of regulation, like regular reviews of portfolios to prove you are maintaining oversight of clients’ money.

Stay informed

You will receive regular updates from us on the performance of your investments and we will provide you with a formal ethical review of your clients' portfolios every year.

You can decide how often you receive statements and other information from your investment manager. You can also access current portfolio valuations online.

Our Rathbone Greenbank Review publication offers insights on topical themes for ethical and sustainable investors. Client events include our annual Investor Day.

How we charge

Our fees are straightforward. We charge management fees for all portfolios. There are no additional investment management charges for transactions or administration.

We will provide you with a clear estimate of our annual fees as part of each investment proposal so you and your clients know what to expect. We are happy to discuss preferential terms linked to the amount of business we do together.

Your introductory and quarterly fees can be deducted from clients' portfolios automatically to provide you with prompt payment.

We are willing to discuss preferential terms for adviser firms where the use of external discretionary management forms a normal part of the client investment proposition.

A Partnership Rate is made available to firms committed to introducing in excess of £10m to Rathbones within normally an 18-month timeframe from the start of our relationship.