Company profile FinalytiQ Research profile Challenging perceptions Abraham Okusanya, director of FinalytiQ, provides investment analysis services and is not afraid of sticking his neck out and questioning some of the industry mores that he feels are letting down advisers and clients alike Abraham Okusanya, founder and director of research consultancy FinalytiQ, is more than happy to stick his head above the parapet where he feels advisers and investors are getting a raw deal from providers or the industry in general. Check out his article on the Adviser Business Review website entitled ‘Does Vanguard’s LifeStrategy put DIMS to shame?’ and his article criticising advisers’ use of cashflow planning models as ‘simplistic and misleading’, as examples. Profitability Awards. Published via Twitter, Okusanya named the most profitable platform and the highest loss making platform in three categories of platform – Large (AUA £12.5bn or above); Mid–Sized (AUA £5bn-12.5bn); Small (AUA £1bn-£5bn). You can see the results by clicking here. Most recently he has questioned the due diligence conducted on platforms, arguing that profitability is the key factor advisers should be considering and that the deep pockets played up by some providers as essential to a sustainable platform, are a false comparison tool. He argues that advisers need to dig deeper to protect their clients and their businesses, particularly with a FCA thematic review on due diligence in the offing. See the article ‘Platform due diligence: Look for profitability not deep pockets’. The day job He also produces ad hoc interviews with advisers and consultants via his Google+ Hangout page, aptly entitled Adviser Hangout (more on this later). On a day-to-day basis, Okusanya’s company FinalytiQ is a research consultancy specialising in centralised investment propositions (CIPs), platforms and technical support for financial planning firms. Okusanya, who is a Chartered Financial Planner and CFP Professional with over eight years’ experience, is principal of the firm that has two supporting colleagues and typically, the company serves firms His recently published Platform of two to three advisers with £20m-£30m Profitability Guide goes into this theme under management as a minimum. in depth (offered as a due diligence tool to advisers at £200). Off the back The investment proposition primarily of the Guide he produced the Platform offers firms that run their own in-house profile model portfolios either the framework or the investment research and analytics, including asset allocation, to operate a “compliant, robust, repeatable and efficient investment process”, Okusanya says. “As far as the investment process is concerned we offer an end to end service. We will sit down with the firms and look at their current investment process and we take it from there. So, we can define the entire process, right from what risk profiling tool they use, deciding what the asset allocation is going to be and making the fund selection, through to writing their quarterly or half yearly commentaries that go to the client.” FinalytiQ sits on the investment committee of several financial planning firms, Okusanya explains. “We will be involved in their quarterly or half yearly rebalancing, depending on what’s happening in the investment world and how that is affecting client portfolios. We will go away from the investment committee meeting and make the changes that need to be made to the portfolio, ensuring the process is fully documented and they’ve got evidence to back the decisions made as far as research and data is concerned. Then we put all the documentation together and put up a commentary that can be sent out to the firm’s clients once approved. Once confirmation is received back from the “A good example is where you have one clients to implement the changes, we firm with the vast majority of its clients in then support the firm in implementing the the decumulation process i.e. drawdown, changes on the relevant platforms.” and you have another firm with the vast majority of its clients in the accumulation One size does not fit all process i.e. they are still building their wealth. Firm A uses Finametrica and An investment trend that Okusanya does firm B uses Distribution Technology. not agree with is that a series of model Imagine that, for whatever reason, both portfolios run by outsourced investment firms decide to use the same off-thefirms can be used across any type or size shelf model portfolios. I’m quite keen to of firm. understand how the firms have mapped their clients’ different sets of objectives to “Personally, I don’t believe in the the same portfolios. It’s not to say it can’t idea that you build off-the-shelf model be done; the question is has it been done portfolios, designed by DFMs or properly? I don’t think that the providers investment research houses, which are of these portfolios have taken enough then used by hundreds and hundreds of account of the differences in firms A and firms without any form of customisation B. And if you then have firms C, D, E, F, all to take account of their clients, to take of them with very different client profiles account of the firm’s view of the world, or processes… and of the tools and processes they use in the firm. Advisers differ in the risk “Use the framework but it’s best to find profiling tools they use, so if you were ways to customise that to what is going on doing it properly, each firm would need to in the individual firms. It’s essential that match their own risk profiling tool to the each firm has its own investment process portfolios so that they are all doing what that takes account of its clients, that takes they are supposed to do. account of the views of the firm.” “A one-size-fits-all approach is simple but what I’ve learnt in this industry is that just because something is simple doesn’t mean that it works and doesn’t mean that you’ve covered all the bases. Passive approach As might be expected, FinalytiQ has designed that kind of framework for use with its clients. Okusanya says: profile “We’ve designed our portfolios within a framework and we customise that framework to each firm, to take account of their risk, their client profile and what’s going on in their firm. We customise the process to firms who have the same views who are looking for that kind of service.” in-house administrators. “So we would do the investment research and write the client reports but the information gathering is mainly done by the adviser in the client meeting and then the firm’s own administrators would request all the information as far as portfolio, existing holding charges, projection on pension FinalytiQ primarily uses a passive plans and so on.” investment approach, although Okusanya prefers to talk about beta portfolios. “I At the moment, the firm is dealing hate the term passive – but I do think mainly with replacement business, he this style offers investors a better way says. “There is new money coming in too of investing. It’s not impossible to run but the vast majority of our work has been active portfolios or to use active funds to replacement work around investment achieve your objectives – we have advisers and pensions. We also get involved in as clients who run active portfolios and protection as well as trust and tax but we sit on their investment committees – they are not something that our clients but I think that ultimately you can do the tend to do on a regular basis.” same or an even better job with passive portfolios at a significantly lower cost Articles and Hangouts and, dare I say it, less headache.” FinalytiQ doesn’t market itself as such but Technical services Okusanya is a prolific producer of articles. Writing, he says, is “one way of clarifying Alongside the investment research, my thoughts and just helping me to lay FinalytiQ undertakes work with platforms out what I really think about a subject or to build deeper relationships with the issue”. It is also a way of sharing his ideas adviser community, while the firm’s and starting debates in the industry – technical services, Okusanya says, act like debates he hopes will have an impact and a paraplanning service. be catalysts or drivers for change where it is necessary. As such this service tends to sit between a firm’s client-facing advisers and its This is also the reason he produces his Adviser Hangout videos and articles on the hangout facility on Google+, to share and to stimulate debate. “There is a huge amount of knowledge and so many ideas that we can share in the industry that often don’t get aired. So I try to put mine out there. Sometimes I get shot at but you have to accept that; not everyone is going to agree with what I have to say.” for further information Visit FinalytiQ website go to platform guide website page For more information on David J Scarlett click here: For Website: more information www.soulmillionaire.com on FinalytiQ Research Website: Email: [email protected] www.finalytiq.co.uk Adviser AdviserBusiness BusinessReview Review Editor: Editorial: Rob Rob Kingsbury Kingsbury Email: Email:[email protected] [email protected] Tel: Tel:01256 01256411677 411677 Advertising: Advertising:0203 0203478 4784651 4651 Website: adviserbusinessreview.com Published Publishedby byKGR KGRMedia MediaServices ServicesLtd Ltd © ©KGR KGRMedia MediaServices ServicesLtd Ltd2014 2014 Learn more
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