Services for Private Client Advisers

Mercer’s investment consulting background

Mercer is a leading global provider of investment consulting services, and offers customised guidance at every stage of the investment decision, risk management and investment monitoring process. For more than 30 years, Mercer has provided the highest quality of investment advice and practical solutions to corporations, foundations, trustees, and endowments on a global basis. We assist with every aspect of institutional investing, from strategy, structure and implementation through to ongoing portfolio management.

Our advice and recommendations are supported by over 610 full-time consultants advising over 2,700 clients with assets in excess of $3.5 trillion. Our deep and broad research staff evaluate economic and capital market trends as well as investment products and managers worldwide and is available through our proprietary tools to support informed decision making.

Services for private client advisory firms

Our Retail Services team provides similar investment consulting services to private client advisory firms such as private banks, independent wealth management firms and IFAs servicing HNW clients. Services include:

Investment consulting

• Advice on strategic asset allocations for various risk profiles customised to organisation’s client base (such as HNW v retirees)
• Advice on Dynamic asset allocation tilts based on Mercer’s market valuation signals
• Advice on structuring portfolios within asset classes such as active v passive, style/size bias, domestic/global split etc
• Advice on selecting managers for approved lists
• Advice on blending managers to achieve various objectives (model portfolios)
• Participation in investment committees
• Presentations at Professional Development sessions

Monitoring

• Performance of asset allocations, managers and model portfolios
• Market commentaries
• Market valuation signals
• Reviewing probabilities of asset allocations achieving set objectives

Strategic research roundtables

Mercer hosts a series of roundtables to discuss ideas emerging out of Mercer's Strategic Research efforts. We also discuss other relevant 'hot topics' that emerge in the local industries. The aim is to facilitate discussion and debate amongst market participants.

Adviser tools

Mercer >IS< is a suite of online tools used by private client advisers to quickly access research. The suite includes

• Mercer >IS< Research – a package of qualitative research on managers, capital markets and portfolio construction that can be customised
• Mercer >IS< Super – a tool to compare Australian super funds on a range of features
• Mercer >IS< Quant – a tool to chart the performance of managed funds, indices and portfolios

The tools can be customised for content and user interface. For example, access can be restricted to funds on an approved list or pre-agreed model portfolios. Parts of the site can be integrated into client intranet or internet sites.

Adviser professional development

Mercer College is the learning network of Mercer. Much like a virtual business school, Mercer College offers training programs on a number of different disciplines across the Asia Pacific region. Mercer College has teamed up with the investment consulting team to offer a series of workshops to enable advisers to broaden and deepen their investment expertise.

The workshops are facilitated by senior Mercer consultants, who are specialists on the topic, and supported by Mercer’s latest global research. Fund managers and other industry specialists are invited as guest speakers, where appropriate. The workshops are interactive and include practical case studies. Each workshop is limited to 30 participants. Participants also earn CPD points where applicable. Programs can be customised and delivered at client premises.

Advisers can choose from two series:

• Foundation Series – private client advisers, financial planners, paraplanners etc who have completed the CFP course
• Master Class Series – HNW advisers, private bankers, family offices, researchers

Why Mercer?

Customised advice

Mercer’s investment consulting services are differentiated from other retail research providers by using a dedicated investment consultant to work with our clients’ internal resources. We find a partnership approach to be the most productive, whereby we are able to discuss opportunities and challenges in a frank and timely manner. Your investment consultant will be available to answer your queries on a day to day basis, and will proactively contact you regarding significant events that may impact your portfolios.

Global research coverage – with efficient access

Mercer’s global manager research effort is one of our key competitive advantages and has delivered demonstrable value for our clients over many years. We have a team of 55 full-time manager research professionals globally which is one of the broadest achieved by any investment consulting firm. This enables us to source and monitor a broad range of high quality investment managers from around the world, with Mercer conducting over 2,500 meetings with managers globally during 2006 in order to support our ratings and client recommendations. Mercer tracks the performance of our highly rated managers, and has been successful in identifying outperforming managers in over 60 asset categories.

We also ensure that the research is delivered efficiently to your private client advisers through easy-to-use and customisable tools such as Mercer >IS<.

Business alignment

Mercer has over 600 professional staff globally advising on more than A$4 trillion of client assets. This is not just a publishing business; we have real experience with implementing the recommendations we make to our clients. Our interests are also aligned with those of our clients in the way we are remunerated.