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2 years ago

Blue Chip Issue 82

  • Text
  • Financial
  • Advisors
  • Investments
  • Equity
  • Wealth
  • Offshore
  • Asset
  • Portfolio
  • Investing
  • Global
  • Momentum
Welcome to our Investing Offshore Special Edition of Blue Chip. a quarterly journal for the financial planning industry and the official publication of the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa NPC (FPI). Blue Chip publishes contributions from FPI and other leading industry figures, covering all aspects of the financial planning industry.

OFFSHORE Crown your

OFFSHORE Crown your wealth Based in Guernsey, Momentum Wealth International operates a truly offshore platform, offering investment and insurance products to clients in South Africa and the Middle and Far East. Blue Chip speaks to managing director Robert Rhodes about investing in Guernsey. Robert, please provide an overview of Momentum Wealth International. Our platform is open architecture, multi-asset class and multicurrency so that clients can access well over 1 000 funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and a wide range of globally listed shares. In addition to our offshore platform, Momentum Wealth International (MWI) operates a fund structure for our own and third-party South African fund managers with more than US-billion in assets under management. What is Momentum Wealth International’s expertise? Like our parent Momentum, the power of partnership is embedded in MWI’s DNA. Partnerships with financial advisors. With us, investing is personal and we believe that financial advisors play a pivotal role in helping clients achieve their financial goals – we look for long-term partnerships with financial advisors and discretionary fund managers (DFMs). Partnerships with service providers. We have partnered with some of the world’s most respected financial institutions to deliver a compelling proposition, such as Citibank and Northern Trust, and through our partnership with the platform technology provider FNZ we will develop an even better 21st-century technologydriven investment proposition for clients. Guernsey legislature determines its own laws and raises its own taxes. Please elaborate. Guernsey has cultivated a favourable legal, regulatory and tax environment in which innovation can thrive. As a British Crown Dependency, Guernsey has been independent and selfgoverning for more than 500 years (apart from a brief period in WW2 when it was occupied by German forces). Links to the UK are through the Crown rather than through Parliament – we have our own legislature, called the States of Guernsey, which determines our local laws, including taxation. Why Guernsey for investment funds? MWI has chosen to domicile the Momentum Mutual Fund ICC in Guernsey for reasons beyond its favourable regulatory and political environments. The Guernsey fund regime is simple and flexible. Fund structures can have different levels of oversight ranging from fully authorised funds to private funds. Structures can have various legal forms, from unit trusts to corporate structures, such as our ICC, to limited partnerships. There is a pool of top-quality, experienced and competent service providers. Many of these are global firms, and with the flexibility of Guernsey’s regulations these companies can access the skills, systems and expertise in their broader groups. Momentum Wealth International is governed by Guernsey laws, which is one of the world’s premier international financial services centres. Please tell us about the regulatory regime for financial services in Guernsey. Guernsey prides itself on the strength of the regulatory environment. MWI is regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC). I have dealt with regulators in Europe, the Far East and Africa. Perhaps it’s a function of size or proximity, but my experience is that the GFSC is open-door, pragmatic and delivery-focused in its approach to regulation and the firms it supervises. That’s not to say the GFSC is a soft touch, far from it. The reputation of Guernsey as an international finance centre is at stake, and the GFSC is quick to combat any threat to this reputation. And the style of regulation seems to work. Guernsey has achieved global respect as a well-regulated jurisdiction, from clients, other regulators and bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). There is a pool of top-quality, experienced and competent service providers. Why should South Africans consider Guernsey for investment funds? Many South African firms have chosen Guernsey as the ideal location to establish and grow an international presence. The GFSC and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa have had a long-standing, positive relationship. The Guernsey fund regime is well understood by the FSCA; many Guernsey funds are approved for distribution in South Africa. By domiciling funds in Guernsey, South African managers can also distribute globally. If you are looking to set up a fund structure that can be distributed in South Africa and globally, consider Guernsey. And if you’re looking for a partner to provide access to global markets through a true offshore platform, or assist in establishing a fund for global distribution, consider MWI. Robert Rhodes, Managing Director, Momentum Wealth International

Two global equity solutions for your offshore investment toolkit OFFSHORE There is significant interest in investing offshore, whether to address a specific investment need, hedge currency risk associated with the rand or to provide exposure to bigger, deeper capital markets and unique industries and companies. That is why we, at Momentum Global Investment Management (MGIM), are excited about our two flagship global equity funds that have recently been brought to South African shores to enhance investors’ offshore investment toolkits. Having been established in 1998 as the international investment arm of Momentum Investments, we at MGIM combine the benefits of our proudly South African heritage with the global lenses and access offered by being based in the United Kingdom. Through our partnerships with advisors across the world, we can confidently say that our investment research, solutions and client base are truly global, giving us unique insights into international investment trends and developments and the needs of financial advisors and their clients. This is how we make investing personal. Importantly, we are continually focused on supporting and enabling advisors to optimise the diversification within their clients’ investment portfolios, and this couldn’t be truer for our South African advisor partners. Given the increasing need for global equity and sustainably orientated solutions, our Momentum Global Fund (GF) Global Equity Fund and Momentum GF Global Sustainability Equity Fund are perfectly suited to provide South African investors with access to a wide range of ideas and investment opportunities available globally. These highly liquid, cost-efficient funds provide access to a diversified basket of developed market equities while remaining relevant and future-fit in an everchanging investment landscape. And although the funds have only recently been made available in South Africa, both strategies have long established track records not only in terms of their returns, but also in terms of the consistency in the MGIM investment team managing these strategies according to our investing philosophy and implementation process. The Momentum GF Global Equity Fund blends quality, growth and value investment styles to smooth the investment journey over time. Its broad developed market exposure means it is perfectly suited as a core global equity holding for investors wanting to generate long-term capital growth. Importantly, the underlying equity exposure has been accessed through both specialist global active and quantitative fund managers that have all been chosen for their specific investment style focus and areas of speciality and competitiveness. In contrast, the Momentum GF Global Sustainable Equity Fund is invested solely using an enhanced index, data-driven approach and is implemented in partnership with Robeco, a world-class quantitative specialist based in Rotterdam. The fund is priced attractively like passive funds, but additionally integrates style premia and environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to enhance its return potential over time. Clients, therefore, will benefit from a fund that offers a better sustainability profile, a lower environmental footprint and a higher chance of outperforming the benchmark over the long run via its exposure to the value, momentum, quality and size premia. These two global equity funds deliver in terms of cost, style diversification, the use of global investment managers that many investors may otherwise not have access to in South Africa, an increased focus on sustainability, and the adoption of data-driven quantitative capabilities. They say that some things in life are worth waiting for. With these two well-established global equity solutions now available within South African advisors’ and clients’ global investment toolkits, we couldn’t agree more. For Momentum Investments, investing is personal, and we look forward to walking with you and your clients on their international investment journey. Ferdi van Heerden, CEO, Momentum Global Investment Management Natalie Harrison, Global Fund Specialist, Momentum Collective Investments The editorial should be read in conjunction with the prospectus of Momentum Global Funds, in which all the current fees, additional disclosures, risk of investment and fund facts are disclosed. The Funds are a sub-fund of the Momentum Global Funds SICAV, which is domiciled in Luxembourg and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. FundRock Management Company S.A., incorporated in Luxembourg, is the Management Company with its registered office at 33, Rue de Gasperich, L-5826 Hesperange, Luxembourg. Telephone +352 271 111. For advisor and intermediary use only.

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