F&C and Clarkson Hill announce distribution partnership

At its annual preliminary results presentation in the City F&C Asset Management PLC (FCAM) has announced that it has signed a significant new distribution agreement with The Clarkson Hill Group PLC (CLKH), an AIM-listed leading national firm of Independent Financial Advisers with over 350 registered individuals.

F&C disclosed to analysts that this is the sixth cornerstone distribution deal for the innovative range of Lifestyle funds that it launched last year as part of its plans to expand its UK retail business.

The agreement will see Clarkson Hill utilise F&C's suite of four Lifestyle funds as part of its core investment proposition. The Lifestyle funds are multi-manager portfolios which have their asset allocation driven off Dynamic Planner, a third-party risk profiling tool used by over 18,000 financial planners. Once appropriately risk-rated by the adviser through the fact find process, the client will be allocated a relevant Lifestyle fund which is then rebased each quarter to ensure that the investor remains in a portfolio that continues to match their objectives and risk tolerance. This solution is designed to help advisers respond effectively to the issues raised by the FSA's Treating Customers Fairly initiative and provides clients with access to best-of-breed funds from across the market. Underlying funds are selected by F&C's multi-manager team who use a rigorous screening process, Traffic Light Analysis, to help them identify the most consistent managers.

Ron Pritchard, Chief Executive of The Clarkson Hill Group PLC, said: "At Clarkson Hill, we are committed to providing clients with suitable advice and quality investments, and this is how we add value over and above other firms which simply work from recommendation lists. Having considered the entire market, we selected F&C because of their clear fund selection process and asset allocation mechanism that will enhance our advisers' abilities to recommend investments that help clients achieve their investment goals."

John Yule, Head of Retail Distribution at F&C, said: "Clarkson Hill is a successful and fast-growing adviser firm, where quality of advice is pivotal to client service. We are very excited to be working with Clarkson Hill. Recent market turbulence reinforces the message that investors need to be in well diversified managed portfolios that take account of their appetite for risk. The Lifestyle funds help advisers do this in a practical and joined-up way."