While it has historically been strong within the investment management space and in platform provision, it has treated both asset management and financial planning as more of an opportunistic ‘nice-to-have’ than as an explicit part of the strategy. This, it has said it will do over the next three to five years.
The final area wherein, the firm is looking to focus its attention far more strategically is on its digital footprint, through Charles Stanley Direct.
“We see Charles Stanley Direct as a portal through which people can access Charles Stanley digitally rather than traditionally. It is too early to say whether or not clients will gravitate towards online and away from traditional, but we want to make sure that as and when that transition occurs we are in a strong position to deliver to clients through that rather than traditional areas.
It is for this reason the firm is also cast its eye over the possibility of offering robo-advice through Charles Stanley Direct.
While Abberley says at a technical level it would be easy for Charles Stanley to move quickly to build a robo offering, he says there remain two points of uncertainty that has, as yet stayed its hand.
The first is the degree to which clients will want to use it today, and the second is a level of regulatory uncertainty as to whether or not one can stake an appropriate level of care in ensuring correct customer outcomes.
On the first point Abberley said his expectation is that there will see growth in demand for such offerings but the industry is not quite there yet.
“I think clients will gravitate in that direction, sometimes because of economics- it is cheaper and more efficient – but also because they will elect to do so; there is a generational change happening,” he said.
But, he added: “we don’t want to launch something until we are confident we can deliver the right customer outcome and ensure clients understand what they are signing up for.”
