As reported in International Adviser, in July this year, deVere Group acquired Acuma, a United Arab Emirates-based wealth management company.
At the time of the acquisition I commented that I was “enthused by the prospect of building on Acuma’s reputation” and “fully committed to investing our time and resources” to achieve this.
This process of developing and expanding the Acuma brand is now under way, with a hub office launching this week in Hong Kong, which is to become the first of many that we plan to open across the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, in 2014.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, following the acquisition of one major brand by another, and the subsequent unveiling of ambitious expansion plans, the industry has been awash with questions and speculation. Is this just an elaborate rebranding exercise of deVere? What will set one company apart from the other when operating within the same marketplace? And how will all of this, if at all, affect the wider industry?
Firstly, let’s set the record straight: the strategic development of Acuma is not a deVere rebranding exercise. It is instead a considered response to what I believe is the forward direction of the industry.
Our ultimate goal, and of course that of all reputable firms, is to provide high quality advice and service to clients.
With this in mind, and – crucially – to ensure we consistently meet the requirements of an evolving regulatory environment, the evolving demands of clients, and evolving industry trends, we believe our global operations should now ultimately be run as two separate organisations.
One organisation will primarily be a wealth management division that offers the option of fee-based advice for those clients who require it. Working in regulated markets, including the UK, the US, Western Europe, South Africa and Hong Kong, this company will do both local and expatriate business.
The other organisation in our group will be exclusively focused on international planning, operating in countries where domestic products are, in our opinion, unsuitable for expatriates and international investor clients.
The process of forming two distinct operations will be an evolutionary one and will accelerate in 2014.
This dual business model will, I believe, allow us to broaden our scope of offerings to clients, further heighten levels of service, and enhance a fee-focused approach.
Furthermore, and for the reasons I set out above – changing regulatory requirements, client demands and financial services trends – I am confident that this dual approach is how the larger organisations in our industry are likely to develop over the next five to 10 years.
Indeed, within a decade I fully expect it to be the standard business model for global IFAs.
