Mercer Bolsters Wealth Management Offer with New Services
Mercer Bolsters Wealth Management Offer with New Services
High Volume Research and Monitoring provide bespoke fund screening for wealth managers
Mercer Advisor Portal(MAP) launch due in Q3 2013
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Mercer has developed a High Volume Research (HVR) and High Volume Monitoring (HVM) service as part of its roll-out of investment services to the wealth management industry. Mercer's HVR and HVM give financial advisors and wealth management oversight on potential issues in funds in which their clients are invested.
Mercer's HVR service provides a bespoke high-level review of funds rather than the traditional full manager research reports. HVR aims to help wealth managers identify possible issues with the funds in which they might invest client money. By comparison, HVM is a regular monitoring service, where Mercer's team will seek to identify material changes with a fund which could impact client outcomes.
"We have seen growing client demand in our Wealth Management services, so we are investing time and resources in this area and 2013 will see us rolling out new services. HVM and HVR are more accessible versions of our traditional consulting model and they are already being used by a number of existing clients. Mercer's heritage and expertise put us in an exceptionally strong position to help clients with investment activities they undertake for their clients," says Cara Williams, Senior Partner and Global Head of Mercer's Wealth Management service.
HVM and HVR are powerful tools allowing wealth managers to access the material, strategies and intellectual capital used by institutional investors and pension funds. With HVR, Mercer uses the same intellectual capital that underpins Mercer's four factor research framework of idea generation, portfolio construction, implementation and business management. HVR is delivered to clients as a concise report.
According to Bev Sharp, Global Head of Retail Research, "This approach can provide a base-level view of a fund and can help to prioritize funds for deeper due diligence, if required. High-volume monitoring (HVM) follows the same approach to identify material changes in an investment team, strategy, or the firm and can be conducted on a regular basis for clients. HVR and HVM services are cost effective and time efficient for clients although it is not a short-cut to manager research and will not result in a rating."
The new services come in advance of the roll out of the Mercer Advisor Portal (MAP) in September 2013. Wealth managers, private client asset managers, private banks and financial advisors will be able to access, through the portal, forward-looking, institutional-quality research and analytical tools to help improve the performance of their clients' assets. The system was developed as an alternative to strictly quantitative approaches to asset allocation and manager selection.
Notes for Editors
Mercer's Investment business is built on the company's global approach to research in which it has invested heavily. Mercer currently has four investment research boutiques with each focused on a category of strategies equities, bonds, alternatives and real estate. Mercer employs over 100 full-time manager research professionals, many with actual fund management experience. Boutique members are experts in their own markets and asset class characteristics, giving each boutique a depth of research which complements Mercer's renowned breadth of research. Members are located around the world and share information and research with their colleagues on a global basis. They are responsible for research, advice across all aspects of asset class investment and implementations, including due diligence on managers, strategies and funds, structure of asset class allocations, research on specific asset class investment trends and opportunities, advice on portfolio structuring, due diligence and assistance with fee and mandate negotiation, ongoing monitoring of investment managers and client portfolios, including regular updates on performance.
About Mercer
Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and performance of their most vital asset - their people. Mercer's 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYS: MMC) , a global team of professional services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and human capital. With 53,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue exceeding $10 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Oliver Wyman, a global leader in management consulting. For more information, visit www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights.
Mercer
Charles Salmans, 212-345-4512
charles.salmans@mercer.com
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