To download this FREE Guide plus detailed fund factsheets go to www.rsmgroup.co.uk/portal where you need to complete a simple registration process and the guide is available to download for use within your business.

The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) will dramatically change the landscape for financial advice in the UK and from it will emerge better qualified and more professional investment advisers who will inspire consumer confidence and build trust.  It is likely to remain one of the hottest topics for the financial services sector for the next two to three years and with such focus of an adviser’s time and attention it makes sense to consider carefully how the changes demanded can positively influence your business.

One of the key RDR outcomes will require advisers to review their client service proposition and within that their investment advice process.  Some advisers may conclude that they do not have the required resources and expertise to complete ongoing due diligence on the plethora of investment solutions available.

One option might be to outsource the investment research and fund selection or an alternative approach might be to utilise Multimanager funds and it this area that the Guide explores.

Whilst Multimanager investing is seen as the solution to a number of problems faced by advisers, there are also a number of issues that it brings – the most fundamental being how to select appropriate funds.  This is becoming more and more problematic with the increase in the number of Multimanager funds available and is further complicated by the diversity of those available – now Multi-Asset as well as Multimanager.

We hope you find the guide useful any comments or feedback are always welcome.

Geoff Mills, Director says: ‘Whilst Scott Mills is no relation there is a tenuous link and it seems a great way to support Red Nose Day.  In the past we have done similar things to get involved in what is such a worthwhile cause.

We know Radio 1 listeners can text donations or go onto the BBC website but we hope we can add to the overall figure and specifically support Scott as he treks across the desert.’

The trek is covering 100 gruelling kilometres in the Kaisut Desert in just five days and in particular the trekkers will highlight the issue of avoidable blindness.  Every minute, a child goes blind somewhere in the world and the effect is truly devastating, yet 80% of all blindness is preventable and just £5 could pay for a sight-saving operation for someone in Africa who’s suffering from a debilitating eye condition such as trachoma.

Geoff adds: ‘By clicking onto our website and registering for our Rated Fund Service you will be helping change people’s lives forever.  It’s free and easy just go to www.rsmgroup.co.uk and click onto ‘Online Client Services’.

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Contact

Geoff Mills - 07721 978 133

Notes for Editors:

Rayner Spencer Mills provides specialist investment research services to the financial services industry specifically:

• Rayner Spencer Mills Rated Funds Service
• Bespoke portfolios and asset allocation models
• Tailored research for investments, pension and life insurance products
• Due Diligence to help with selection of funds, wraps and platforms and DFM’s
• Competitor analysis and market research for providers and fund management groups.

Graham O’Neill presently runs his own consultancy business and will bring a wealth of expertise to Rayner Spencer Mills with over 30 years experience in investment management.  Graham has hands-on fund management experience and helped Bloxhams launch their first retail ‘fund of funds’ in Ireland. He currently jointly manages the Bloxham Global Alpha fund and similar ‘fund of fund’ mandates with some €50m under management.

Ken Rayner, Director at Rayner Spencer Mills says: ‘We have been looking at various options to expand our business and by joining forces with Graham we will gain from his vast experience.  And we know from fund manager comments that he is very well respected in the fund management sector and he will add further in-depth qualitative commentary on mutual funds as a result of his detailed face to face meeting with fund managers which will greatly enhance the Rayner Spencer Mills Rated Funds service.’

Graham adds:  ‘Given the change in the UK advisory sector brought about by the evolving Regulatory environment it is a great time to be expanding my involvement in the UK by joining forces with Rayner Spencer Mills who have built up an impressive client list over the last five years.’

‘Our service proposition is about equipping advisers to better meet clients’ needs in a professional and compliant manner. The RDR will dramatically change the landscape for financial advice in the UK and with it will emerge better qualified and more professional investment advisers who will inspire consumer confidence and build trust. Our aim is to support advisers in this journey.’

The new venture will see the launch of an enhanced rated funds service planned for Q4 this year.

If we take tax wrapper and fund coverage, online functionality, quality of investment tools, post sale reporting and complexity of MI as broad measures of the development of wraps, the following summarises where we would place the key providers.

[Graphic]

Understanding this, together with more detail of the functionality and additional support available will help an IFA to choose which solution will best meet their needs.  It is misleading to think that all IFAs would be best suited by the most developed of the platforms as their business model may mean that they only need the more basic levels of functionality.  Conversely another IFA may be in a position to take advantage of a more complex solution and therefore need a more complete wrap service.

To provide the clarity of information that IFAs need, independent research company Rayner Spencer Mills have put together a market report providing key information on the wrap market together with detailed factsheets on the main providers.  Commenting on the report, Rayner Spencer Mills director Geoff Mills says ‘It is important to look at the detail of what is on offer in this market.  Having full, independent information on the main providers will, we believe, enable IFAs to take advantage of the opportunities that this market offers using the most appropriate wrap solution for their business’.

To obtain details on the Rayner Spencer Mills market report please telephone 01535 656555 or email enquiries@rsmgroup.co.uk.

* Source – Survey of IFA users by Synaptic Systems July 2006.