Aviva Investors is a good case in point, with a UK retail funds business built not on single-strategy funds, but rather around its targeted multi-asset/multi-strategy AIMS funds and its volatility managed range.
The business has recently been shaped by CEO Euan Munro – previously an architect of Standard Life Investors’ incredibly popular GARS product – who sees AIMS very much as the “shop window” into Aviva’s offering.
“We want to be recognised as a global leader in outcome-oriented investing,” he told me.
“The critical client needs in my view are just wanting to make good sustainable returns, good sustainable income or they want beat inflation or liabilities.”
As with any service industry, the customer is always right, though I’d question how much pressure fund houses are now putting on intermediaries, the professionals who are supposed to determine risk profiles in the first place.
