Business Innovations

See below some of the ways we have innovated both within our business and the investment industry:

2001	Provision of direct advice	In the early days of the business, we were one of the first to offer direct advice on how to invest, rather than the provision of options (which was more common in the investment consulting industry). To find out more about our investment advisory services, click here.
2001/2	Performance-related fees	Since the inception of the business, we have offered clients the option of aligning our success with theirs through performance-related fees. In particular, we proposed to link our success to our clients’ liability-related objectives, so that we only get paid when the funding position improves. We have continued (and will always continue!) to offer this option, as it is consistent with focus on performance in all of our businesses.
2003	Fiduciary management/ Implemented consulting	The concept of fiduciary management or implemented consulting has become more accepted in recent years. We were the first to offer this service in the UK, with our first clients appointing us in 2003. To find out more about this business, click here.
2004	Derivatives	It became clear to us in 2003/4 that the use of derivatives in pension schemes was likely to become very significant in the coming years. We therefore started our derivatives business in 2004 and engaged with clients to put on some of the earliest equity and liability hedging strategies. This work has grown to be a significant part of our business. To find out more about this, click here.
2007	Inception of US business	We believed that many of the trends we had seen in the UK would become more prevalent in the US. As a result, we started our US business in 2007, with a view to helping institutions improve investment performance.
2008	CAMRADATA	We had long believed that the investment industry needed a different focus on data collection and analysis. As a result, in 2008 we acquired the CAMRADATA business. We have since integrated our governance advice and reporting activities into this business. This is partly to create greater separation of this from the advisory businesses and partly to achieve the greater benefits of aligning governance with technology. To find out more about this business, click here.
2009	Emerging Markets	We have long believed in the emerging markets story and in 2009, we formally started our emerging markets activities with the inception of our business in Turkey. This provides advice and support to clients in engaging with their investors.
2009	Ventures	In 2009, our ventures business began with the creation of Manolete, a venture with a partner (Calder Advisory) in the litigation funding market.

Our innovations in business terms will continue. The key in each case is that innovations are in areas where we believe strongly we can significantly improve performance for our clients.