60-second interview: Daniel Freedman
Daniel Freedman tells PCA that the wealth management industry needs to understand that only solutions can solve problems, not new products
In a nutshell, what does London & Capital do?
London & Capital is a global wealth manager headquartered in London, that looks after UK and international high-net and ultra-high-net-worth families and small institutions.
We provide three aspects of service; strategic wealth planning, multi-asset class investment management, and family-office style financial reporting.
Over the years we have become recognised for our specialist advice in several areas, such as managing wealth for Americans in the UK, non-doms and, multi-jurisdictional international families.
What are your clients talking to you about at the moment and does anything concern you?
The main concern recently has been the UK elections and how this would affect clients’ global investments and tax. Now the main concern has moved to Europe; whether the UK will remain in Europe and the ongoing Greece saga.
Our main concern is over valuation in the market, and how to counterbalance risk in this stage of the market without sacrificing returns.
What key trends are you following?
We continue to look for opportunities in global markets that sit well with our longer term views of capital preservation. In terms of risk and return, Europe looks very interesting at the moment.
The key trend in the wealth management sector is the consolidation and merging within the industry and the effect that this is having on clients. Many of our competitors have been taken over by larger groups, or due to merging amongst each other. They are looking to increase revenue without increasing costs, which in theory, should lead to increased profits.
However these firms are focusing on their business rather than the clients and the emphasis on business means that development, client improvement and, ultimately service, becomes a second priority. Clients then lose out and so do the firms.
What are the firm’s immediate and long-term priorities?
The firm’s immediate business focus is to ensure the administration, operations and compliance systems in place are as efficient and well-run as possible, while keeping costs down in order to minimise ongoing portfolio costs for clients.
In the medium to longer term, we will look to ensure that our wider team, which is key to the continued success of the business, are happy and are supported by new employees joining the company to ensure client service is maintained.
To us, the client is paramount and ultimately this will lead to satisfied clients, which in itself will ensure the firm’s success.
What advice you would give to the wealth management industry?
Over the 35 years I have been in the wealth management industry, the misconception that both existing and new firms tend to make is the notion of selling products. Wealth management issues need to be solved by individual solutions.
Selling a product means clients are put into ‘cookie cutter’ approaches, in which they are subjected to A,B,C models, overlooking the exact requirements of the clients, whether that is providing varying levels of income over time, security and/or consistent long-term performance above cash.
The only way the wealth management industry will evolve efficiently is to provide solutions to problems, not products and services that simply meet the business model.
Daniel Freedman is the managing director and co-founder of London & Capital