They arrived with separate IFA companies, Davis with DeVere and Rees with Britex. But whether kismet or simply good timing, they left their respective employers to join forces at a company that is now known as International Advisor.
Initially they were frontline advisers, but then the founder stepped back leaving Davis and Rees to rebrand and build the business.
“Mexico just seemed like a challenging market,” says Davis, explaining his decision to move to Latin America. “I wanted a change. There was no bigger change than moving somewhere else.”
One of the biggest challenges for both Davis and Rees was the lack of offshore regulation – doing business in Mexico City was more akin to setting up shop in a frontier town of the Wild West. But rather than going native, the duo concentrated on bringing British-style regulated financial advice to the Mexican market.
“Because regulation in Mexico is practically non-existent, we self-regulate,” Davis says. “I wanted to self-regulate because our business sometimes has a pretty poor reputation and we wanted to challenge that. I think that is why we have grown.”
Rees agrees: “Early on we saw the opportunities that were in Mexico and decided that it was going to be our future. You have got to establish sound foundations if you want to build anything.”
Culture shock
But the duo also had to comes to terms with a very different culture. “Mexican people are very nice, so they have a propensity not to say no,” Davis says. “That is a big cultural difference and it took me one to two years to get used to that. Local people will tell you everything apart from no.”
For Rees, their understanding of local culture is one of the reasons for their success. “We know how to do business in Mexico. We understand the cultural differences, we understand the nuances of doing business here. Companies have come to Mexico thinking it is Dubai and have not lasted very long.”
Another significant difference between Mexico and more developed regions is the average case size. “Our average case sizes will be a lot lower than Singapore or Dubai,” Davis says. And, where advisers in Singapore and Dubai charge clients average premiums of several thousand of US dollars a month, International Advisor charges an average of $625 per month.
Davis and Rees say this low average premium rate is why other companies are reluctant to enter the Latin American market.
Prior to their arrival at the helm of International Advisor, DeVere dominated the market in Mexico City. Today, International Advisor is the dominant force.
There are other companies operating within their space but Davis is doubtful that “they are doing anywhere near the volumes of business we are doing in the international marketplace”.
