Assets at wealth management firm Waverton have topped £10bn, including a net inflow of more than £500mn from financial advisers since the start of 2023.
The company told FT Adviser that 72 per cent of all net flows into its products came from financial advisers this year to date.
The firm has 700 advice firms as clients.
John Bellamy, who heads up the adviser business at the firm, said the inflows have been strongest from advisers placing capital into the model portfolios.
He said the company is bringing to market three new multi-asset funds each of which will invest in bonds, equities, cash and alternatives, and will be risk weighted.
The funds invest directly, rather than on a multi-manager basis, which Bellamy contends makes the funds cheaper than some peers as the latter are run as fund of funds and so clients effectively pay two sets of fees, one to Waverton and one to the outsourced fund manager.
Each of the new funds will have a targeted return of a specified percentage point above inflation, depending on the risk profile, rating from 2 per cent above inflation to 3.5 per cent above inflation.
The risk categories associated with these funds are within the frameworks associated with Defaqto and Dynamic Planner.
Bellamy said the launch of these funds is in response to client demand, but also because of the cuts to capital gains tax exemptions, which mean clients potentially pay capital gains tax on much smaller gains than was previously the case.
This means that if a client holds assets outside of an Isa or Sipp tax wrapper, each time a wealth manager sells some of the assets at a profit, a potential capital gains tax liability is incurred.
However, trades within a multi-asset fund structure are not liable for capital gains tax.
Bellamy believes financial advisers have been keen to buy the existing multi-asset funds due to performance.
Nick Tucker, chief executive at Waverton said: “The growth in the Adviser Solutions channel continues to be outstanding, with inflows last year averaging £100mn a month and the business growing year-on-year since 2019.
"Capitalising on this momentum, the new multi-asset funds will complement Waverton’s existing offering by establishing a new proposition that caters to all types of investment risk appetites.”
david.thorpe@ft.com
