AXA Wealth new Tailored Selection - now with Architas ‘inside'
AXA Wealth has announced the launch of its new Tailored Selection fund range. The Tailored Selection is a range of carefully screened retail investment funds, now powered by the robust and rigorous Architas investment process. The range builds on the original award-winning AXA Winterthur guided architecture range launched 10 years ago.
The new Tailored Selection range comprises 121 funds, and is available across the AXA Wealth portfolio. This includes investment through individual pension and investment bond products provided by AXA Winterthur Wealth Management, the AXA Elevate wrap platform, and the AXA Wealth International product range. The range complements the whole of market fund ranges also available through the Elevate wrap and AXA Wealth International.
Having Architas manage the funds and deploy its rigorous investment process gives the new Tailored Selection range powerful investment capability through both a quantitative process that looks to identify consistency, together with extensive qualitative manager research and constant portfolio monitoring.
To achieve this, the investment team uses MosaIQue by Architas, an in-house quantitative analysis tool, as the starting point for screening all funds within the investment universe.
This proprietary fund-screening tool is designed to provide an understanding of how a fund manager has performed, rather than looking at returns alone. The Architas investment team is searching for reliable performance; therefore their analysis has been designed to be extremely adaptable to rigorously test the consistency of fund behaviour across a multitude of parameters.
The investment process is supported by one of the largest investment research departments in the industry.
Mike Kellard, CEO, AXA Wealth, said: "Powered by Architas, AXA Wealth has created an efficient middle ground between the two extremes of a more restrictive ‘closed-shop' approach - and its open architecture model available via Elevate and AXA Wealth International - through its new guided architecture proposition.
"Most importantly, advisers can be confident that all of the recommended funds are carefully selected and monitored by investment professionals, using the Architas proprietary investment process, which aims to deliver out-performance by identifying the talented and consistent managers and processes from the lucky ones. I believe this Architas ‘inside' the fund range capability will prove a true differentiator for the new Tailored Selection."
The range now has 20 new funds including Investec Emerging Markets Debt, Jupiter UK Growth Fund, Black Rock European Dynamic, Schroder US Mid Cap and Aegon Ethical Equity to name but a few. In addition, the expertise of L&G can now be accessed including L&G Dynamic Bond and L&G Property Funds.
The new range represents a significant step in the company's evolution and ensures that advisers have the ability to deal with a business that wants to make a difference to them and enable them to grow their businesses in the post-RDR world.
With advisers facing unprecedented change with RDR from 2012, it is clear that there needs to be a simpler and more transparent way to do business. Guided architecture is an obvious way forward. In its consultation paper 09/18 on the RDR the Financial Services Authority stated that "we recognise that when used appropriately, a panel, or outsourcing the market research to a third party can help a firm meet its obligations".
AXA Wealth believes that the benefits of using guided architecture, apart from the cost efficiencies for advisers, also include:
Aiding the management of risk in the business
Facilitating consistency within the business
Evidencing how decisions are arrived at.
Richard Philbin, chief investment officer, Architas Multi-Manager, comments: "We are unveiling a new way forward, not only for AXA Wealth, but also for those advisers that are so important to our continued success. I am delighted to announce that we can now offer advisers true guided architecture through the new Tailored Selection, The range represents strong fund choice, risk awareness and over 150 years of investment experience."