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Coutts further enhances asset management proposition for clients

Coutts, the wealth manager and private bank, has today announced a new relationship with BlackRock, the world’s largest Asset Manager as it looks to further reduce the cost of investing for the 12.5 million clients it services across the wider NatWest Group.

The new relationship will see the launch of six new exclusive funds for clients of Coutts and the broader NatWest Group, consisting of three active funds (US equities, UK equities, Global Investment Grade Credit) and three index funds (US equities, UK equities and Europe ex-UK equities). The Coutts Investment Committee will set each fund’s unique investment strategy and will maintain responsibility for all decisions relating to asset allocation. BlackRock will use its independent third-party manager research platform to select best-in-class managers for the three active funds, while the three index funds will be managed in-house by BlackRock.  All six funds will benefit from being run on BlackRock’s market-leading risk management platform, Aladdin.

 

Peter Flavel, CEO, Coutts, said: “Investments in technology have been vital for us to find new ways of passing savings onto our clients and making investing more attractive and appropriate for clients at all stages of their financial journey. We have said it before, but ultimately cost should never be a barrier to investing and we have a responsibility to do whatever we can to help our customers realise that fact. BlackRock’s platform will benefit our clients significantly. Its scale and global research capabilities means our asset management team have the best possible tools at their disposal to do what they do best - make clever, market-beating investment decisions. I’m proud to be in a position to present clients with not only savings on the cost to invest, but with greater investment opportunities too.”

 

This is the latest development in Coutts’ strategy to reduce the cost of investing for clients. In recent weeks, the private bank and wealth manager has redeveloped its advice fee structure, meaning clients only pay a one-off flat fee for investment advice1 with no ongoing implementation fees and also reduced the cost to invest across the wider NatWest Group’s ‘Invest’ platform2  with a new charge of just 0.15% for investments up to £1m3.

 

Mohammad Kamal Syed, Head of Asset Management at Coutts, said: “We are always looking for ways to enhance the service we offer clients and how, as the centre for asset management across NatWest Group, we can drive change and help such a broad spectrum of customers save and invest for their financial future. By working with BlackRock, we can build on our excellent track-record of delivering first class returns by launching six new funds that will make us even more agile and leverage BlackRock’s world class institutional investment platform for the benefit of our clients.”

 

The new funds will be used by the private bank and wealth manager within its existing investment propositions and are set to launch from mid-November. The solution is part of Coutts’ Assets under Management (AuM) growth strategy and is a key element of NatWest Group’s plans for its wealth businesses.

 

Stephen Cohen, Head of Wealth for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at BlackRock, said: “We are delighted to have been selected to work with Coutts to help scale efficiencies in their management of client assets, and accelerate their growth ambitions. The quality of our investment building blocks – the flexibility of our platform, our risk management expertise and research capabilities – enables us to deliver this set of bespoke funds to complement and enhance the existing Coutts proposition.”

 

  1. One off £2k for investment advice/ One off £5k for Financial planning
  2. ‘Invest’ is available across NatWest Group – Coutts Invest, Royal Bank Invest and NatWest Invest. Clients can choose how much they want to put in and for how long, their preferred level of risk and whether it should be part of an ISA or general investment account. Clients can also transfer existing ISAs to Coutts. Coutts’ team of investment specialists actively manage and closely monitor the asset allocation of the funds – called the Personal Portfolio Funds – to maximise returns within a client’s chosen risk level. You can get started with as little as £500 and make regular contributions from £50
  3. £0-£1m – 0.15%/ £1m-£5m – 0.1%/ £5m+ - 0.05%
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