Our Fully Managed Service
For many years Argent has managed the Investment Portfolios of its clients, to the extent that we now have in excess of £128 million client assets in our Fully Managed Service.
The Fully Managed Service embraces the values of trust, honesty and integrity between Argent and its clients and, we are pleased to say, the vast majority of clients have elected to have their investment portfolios managed on this basis.
The Fully Managed Service enables Argent to manage portfolios according to a pre-determined risk based strategy without constant recourse back to the client for approval. Argent can, therefore, be flexible in its asset allocation and choice of funds depending upon the prevailing economic conditions.
In the past, this was a time-consuming and costly exercise involving a lot of paperwork. New technology has enabled Argent to streamline this aspect of its business and become more active in portfolio management and design.
The Fully Managed Service allows us to "capture the moment" by investing and divesting when the opportunities arise. Sometimes, this requires a fleetness of footwork. Confirmation of all Argent’s transactions is provided electronically and so avoids much of the traditional “paper trail”. Trading in funds is also quicker and more efficient with the added advantage that clients can now view their portfolios and any changes online.
This all works because of the electronic trading platform made available to us by Raymond James Investment Services (RJIS). RJIS is the UK private client investment management arm of Raymond James Financial Inc, a US based financial services company. Established in 1962, it has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1983 and has a market capitalisation of $1.96billion. It has over 1.8 million client accounts representing total client assets of $172 billion. RJIS has been trading in the UK since 2001 and already has 52 locations as well as membership of the London Stock Exchange.
RJIS offers private client investment managers, such as Argent, the opportunity to deliver a complete and integrated wealth management service whilst – most importantly – allowing us to maintain our traditional and highly valued independence.
Here are some of the tangible benefits available to clients:
- Dealing is safer. Investments are held by a custodian company – Pershing Securities Ltd – affiliated to the Bank of New York, one of the largest and most reputable banks in the world. We have ensured that the level of protection of your assets, whilst in the custody of Pershing, is the strongest in the industry both in absolute terms and in comparison with our peers.
- Economies of scale leading to lower costs. RJIS’s buying power is such that the Annual Management Charges applied by the leading Fund Managers are significantly discounted.
- Online access. Clients can review their portfolios on a daily basis. This important facility means that, notwithstanding the granting of a discretionary mandate to Argent, the level of communication about what is happening to your investments, is actually enhanced.
- A wider range of investments. Apart from the usual range of “retail funds” Argent has access to “institutional funds” which pay no commission and work out less expensive for our clients. Wherever possible, we adopt the Institutional share class when investing. This gives Argent the ability to access many more esoteric funds, which will never be available on the more popular “fund supermarket” platforms.
Finally, for now, Argent has always sought to contain costs and improve service levels. Our own charges are competitive in the industry and represent a transparent fee based upon the value of a client’s assets under management (AUM). In other words, we have a mutual interest in the growth of your portfolio as our remuneration is inextricably linked to how well we perform on your behalf!
Argent has an excellent reputation for advising Employers on ways they can protect and reward arguably their most valuable asset - their Staff. For many years we have worked closely with our corporate clients to design, implement and administer a full range of Employee Benefits. To find out more please click the link below............
What Our Clients Say
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