W&F January 2018

January 2018

Delivering Consistent Investment Outperformance Mansard, founded in 2010 provides professional investors access to superior returns via some of leading investment managers globally.

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Editor’s Comment Welcome to the first edition of Wealth & Finance for 2018. Providing you with an insight into the latest industry news across both traditional and alternative investment sectors.

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In this month’s issue, we discover more about Opilio Recruitment. The firm was established in 2010 and is the go-to digital recruitment agency for global brands and tech start-ups. We spoke to Sheba Karamat as we find out more about this knowledgeable and industry leading firm.

Also in this edition, Beckford James are experienced, independent chartered financial planners. We invited Partner & Chartered Financial Planner, Joseph Maguire to provide us with an insight into the company’s success behind the scenes.

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On the theme of success, Alta Semper invests patient, flexible and strategic capital across growth markets with a specific focus on Africa. We invited Afsane Jetha to tell us more about the firm as we examine the secrets behind its success.

Elsewhere in this issue, established in 2004, Idappcom is a privately owned security software development and security services business. We profiled the firm and sat down with CEO, Ray Bryant who reveals more about one of the rising companies in the exciting world of cybersecurity.

Lastly, as we look ahead to the possibilities that 2018 has to offer, Anthony Morrow, CEO of evestor.co.uk comments on what 2018 holds for fintech and robo-advice.

Here at Wealth & Finance, we hope that you enjoy reading this edition, and we wish you all the best for 2018.

Jessica Daykin, Editor

AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

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READ THIS MONTH’S CPD ACCREDITED ISSUE TO GAIN 6 CPD POINTS

4. News

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The First Call for Clients and Candidates Opilio Recruitment

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Why it Pays to Know the Difference Between a Loss Adjuster and a Loss Assessor Aspray

10. An Investment Company with a Difference Clear Capital Management LLP 12. Independent Financial Advisers Manning and Company 14. HairMax: The Science of Hair Growth Lexington International 16. Delivering Consistent Investment Outperformance Mansard 18. Finance in Safe Hands Astra Asset Management

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20. Wealth Management for Life.

Beckford James LLP Financial Planning 22. Bold. Flexible. Patient. Investing in Africa.

Alta Semper 24. Providing Regulatory Excellence in the Financial Industry I-FACT Limited 26. Global Connectivity for Investors Fund Connect 28. Securing Your Company, Your Home Office and Your Mobile Activity Idappcom 30. Supporting Businesses to Become Gender Intelligent The Gender Intelligence Group (GIG) 32. The Future is Ready to be Made Aberdeen Asset Management PLC 37. Winners Directory

Mansard

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FinTech’s Future: Looking Ahead at 2018’s Trends Anthony Morrow, CEO of evestor.co.uk comments on what 2018 holds for fintech and robo-advice.

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News

This year alone we’ve seen massive changes in the Fintech industry. Things are moving more rapidly towards being able to manage most of your important financial affairs online – whether that’s setting-up a pension, managing your money or making an investment. It’s a highly unpredictable space and the pace of change will be dependent on several factors, yet we can already see several interesting challenges, trends and developments for Fintech, and robo-advice more specifically, in 2018.

reassurance and clarification. The human element is important to be able to understand and manage the risks of robotics. If anything, it won’t be the sophistication of algorithms or robots that determines the success of robo-advisers. It will be people. The robo-advisers that stand the test of time will be those that can combine the intelligence and emotional nous of expert advisers with bots to provide personalised advice and services that actually meet an investor’s individual goals.

News that Natwest has launched a robo-advice service is just one of the many signs that the major banks are making a leap into this space, and this will play a big part in the fintech landscape over the next year as robo-advice becomes even more mainstream. However, high street banks have struggled to keep customers at the heart of what they do and slapping a robo-advice sticker on their service offers isn’t a quick fix to this.

Fintech has benefited from a very benign environment, with low cost of credit and record levels of venture capital money taking advantage of low interest rates. This will inevitably run its course, so fintech businesses need to think about how they’d succeed in a more challenging environment if this were to change suddenly in the next year.

The customer must always come way before the bottom-line if the robo-advice offer is to succeed in the coming year. This means keeping offers affordable, accessible and transparent, with minimum investments that aren’t way out of the realms of what most people can afford to save.

We’ve seen the FCA doing increasingly more to encourage digitalisation and innovation in the market. This is a clear recognition of the impact challengers are already having. If the FCA is looking at how it authorises individuals and companies working in the sector, achieving this level of authorisation should include clear emphasis on how companies can benefit consumers. In such a crowded financial landscape, it’s a more essential than ever that the FCA are facilitating the growth of consumer champions and how this plays out in 2018 will be a crucial shaper of the industry.

There are some hurdles that fintech businesses should look out for in 2018.

A main one being that robo-advice is still very much in its infancy. This is down to the constraints of capital and resource of the providers; whose capital investment decisions are heavily scrutinised; but also down to customers’ trust in managing their finances digitally.

To develop a sense of trust amongst consumers, the industry should be thinking of establishing some form of supervision of the systems that are being used. It’s important to remember some robos offer a hybrid model where you can speak to a person for

Another interesting development that will present a challenge for the sector is PSD2, or the Revised Payment Service Directive. Next year, banks will need to allow their traditional customer base to use third party providers to manage their finances. PSD2 started as an EU initiative to break down banks’ monopoly on their user’s data.

It allows merchants, like Amazon, for example, to retrieve customers’ account data from their bank with their permission. That means they can make a payment directly for the customer, without having to redirect them to another service like PayPal or Visa. It will be interesting to see how these big players can overcome this set back.

As people become more comfortable carrying out these sorts of transactions digitally, all financial services companies should be looking at how they can embrace new technologies.

A recent survey from L&G showed that nearly half of mortgage brokers see robo-advice and technology as the biggest threat to their business in the next three years – instead of seeing Fintech as a threat, all would benefit from seeing the opportunities it presents.

In 2018, the growing use of technology should be embraced as it can only be a good thing for the industry, and more importantly for the end consumer. It can help to benefit customer relationships, as their experience improves and the costs are lowered.

Building trust, adapting to more challenging times ahead as well as an abundance of patience are the essential ingredients for long term success.

Is it time for a RECAP? Andrew Brettell, Founder of The Money MOTco (www. themoneymotco.co.uk) talks us through why this year both companies and individuals should consider overhauling their finances.

Looking back, 2017 was another positive year for investors, particularly those with a high degree of exposure to global equities in their portfolios, which is why it may be an opportune time for them to review their Risk, Equity Exposure, Costs, Asset Allocation and Performance.

Many people have assets in different places, predominantly in either portfolios managed personally or in discretionary portfolios managed by professional fund managers, as well as in pension schemes. Accordingly, any analysis needs to be holistic, in order for the conclusions to be meaningful and worthwhile.

As we move into a new year, now is the perfect time for investors to re-assess their investment goals and look closely at the key considerations which will determine their investment outcome in 2018, rather than leave it completely to chance.

largely by the degree of exposure to equities, so striking the right balance is of critical importance and should take into account the prevailing macroeconomic background and stock market valuations, as well as the investor’s goals.

Costs Investors should be cognizant of fees and charges, which can significantly erode the value of portfolios in the long term.

For example, if the value of a £1,000,000 portfolio with no fees attached grows at a compound rate of 5% per annum over a period of 20 years, it would be worth almost £500,000 more than a portfolio achieving the same investment return, whilst incurring a relatively modest annual fee, by industry standards, of 1%, even before taking into account VAT.

Asset Allocation Deciding on how to much money to allocate to different stock markets or other Risk asset classes, such as commodities or The higher the level of risk taken, the property, as well as bonds and cash, greater the potential gains or losses together with the associated currency which may occur as a result. 2017 has implications, will have a material effect on been a classic year from a risk/reward returns. For example, the US has been perspective with the highest returns being one of the most rewarding markets in achieved by Emerging Market equities, which to invest over the past five years which tend to exhibit riskier and more and the portfolio weighting in this market volatile traits than those in developed would have been a key driver of performarkets, and the lowest emanating from mance, further enhanced by the strength cash, which is generally perceived as of the dollar. being risk-free.

Performance Although it is possible to calculate risk Whilst 2017 was a very rewarding year mathematically, the measures used are for equity investors, and absolute returns generated from historical data and can were relatively easy to achieve, the questherefore only act as a theoretical guide tion which they should now be asking to future returns. However, it is important is whether the returns generated were for investors to keep their appetite for risk consistent with their risk parameters and under review, in order to ensure that it is also how their portfolios have performed consistent with their investment objecrelative to market indices, as well as tives, which inevitably change over time. industry benchmarks.

Equity Exposure One of the most important decisions in investment management is how much to invest in equities versus bonds and cash, and this is inextricably linked to the individual’s risk tolerance. A low-risk portfolio is one which holds a small percentage in equities and a large weighting in cash, whilst a high-risk approach might be one which involves “gearing” , that is, borrowing money to invest in equities, with all the associated upside potential and downside risks. Future returns, both positive and negative, will be determined

The above summary has only touched upon a few areas on which, in my opinion, investors should be focusing at this time. It is easy to become complacent when markets have been performing well and assume that the good times will keep on rolling, but it was arguably a similar story at the end of 1999 (when, incidentally, the FTSE 100 Index also hit an all-time closing high of 6,930, compared to the record closing high of 7688 on 29th December, 2017) and 2007, so perhaps it really is time for a RECAP.

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The First Call for Clients and Candidates Opilio Recruitment is the go-to digital recruitment agency for global brands and tech start-ups. We spoke to Philip Shepherd as we find out more about this knowledgeable and industry leading firm.

Established in London in 2010, Opilio prides itself on its industry knowledge, with many of its consultants previously working in the digital media, mobile and technology sectors that staff recruit for.

This reinforces the statement that staff understand their requirements and work hard to exceed expectations, as Philip alludes to.

“Essentially, digital recruitment is what we do. We know that the single greatest asset to any business are its people, and it is our job to find exceptional talent and everything in between. Simply put, we are connected with the best in the industry.

We work with companies like Disney, BBC, Universal Music and Penguin Random House, as well as having branches based in London, Birmingham and Manchester, but we recruit right across Lancashire, the midlands, and South West England.”

Working closely alongside clients, staff at Opilio visit them at their own office spaces to get to know the people and better understand their requirements. Philip discusses how the trust built between the team and others leads to a lot of return business, citing the thriving work environment and friendly relationships as integral to its success.

“Important to our success, our personal services develop into mutually beneficial and longstanding partnerships. We proudly display our client partnerships on our website, along with testimonials from clients for whom we have made placements.

“Opilio’s initiative to move out of yesteryears shadow, and to show that we are just normal people. Highlighted through the website, nothing tells the story better than the individual personalities which make up Opilio, so please read the glowing recommendations clients and

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candidates have given each of our consultants.

Opilio is a fun, trustworthy family, and our clients show their appreciation by sticking with us.”

Going forward, there looks to be exciting times ahead for Opilio, as the combined experience and passion of its team will continue to offer clients and candidates that something different that they are looking for.

“Ultimately, over the years we have consistently grown our business and have an incredible team of passionate and intelligent people that share our love of the digital space. We will continue to expand outside of London, with our offices in Birmingham and Manchester. Lastly, we have the network, connections and social media reach to make things happen across the UK.”

“Important to our success, our personal services develop into mutually beneficial and long-standing partnerships. We proudly display our client partnerships on our website, along with testimonials from clients for whom we have made placements.”

The First Call for Clients and Candidates

Company: Opilio Recruitment Contact: Philip Shepherd Contact Email: philip.shepherd@opilio.co.uk Address: 48 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 2NS, UK Phone: 0207 183 7145 Website: www.opiliorecruitment.co.uk

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Why it Pays to Know the Difference Between a Loss Adjuster and a Loss Assessor Torrential rain and flooding in north west England has recently brought misery to the door of many homeowners and businesses, but some are better equipped to cope with the resulting losses to property and possessions than others, simply because they know the difference between a loss adjuster and a loss assessor.

The two job titles sound remarkably similar, but the roles are polar opposites. When you’ve suffered the shock and upset of a major impact to your property, it’s easy to mix them up. It pays not to do so.

The loss adjuster may stand on your insurer’s side of the fence. Should you have to make a significant home insurance claim, or call upon your business building and contents insurance policy, they will arrange to view the damage. Think of them ‘adjudicating’ your claim; it may remind you that they will examine it critically.

During their adjudication, they will often seek to adjust your claim – the figure you may have in mind – downwards. Their aim will be to minimise costs, by not necessarily replacing, repairing or restoring your property and possessions as you would wish. They will not necessarily use tradesmen you feel you can trust. Instead, they are paid by your insurer, so their impartiality in looking at your claim can be questionable, and they may pick holes in it.

A loss assessor is likely to see things differently and enters the scenario only if you take up your right to appoint them. There are many benefits if you do.

A loss assessor, in modern day speak, ‘has your back’. They step in and pro-actively handle your claim with your best interests in mind. With a loss assessor like Aspray, you don’t have to pay for the service, if you allow them to appoint their own vetted and professional sub-contractors to

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do the reinstatement or repair works, these are contractors that they work with all year round.

meeting with your insurer’s team. It all adds up to peace of mind.

Using a loss assessor can restore the balance of power of the claims process, giving you a voice.

The experienced professional takes the burden off your shoulders, creates the best case scenario for you in order to put your property back to its preloss condition, and then seeks to get your insurer to agree with their plan of action. That will be one that gets you back on your feet and back in your home or business as swiftly as possible.

At award-winning Aspray (www.aspray.com), we are a property repair and insurance claims management company, authorised and regulated by the FCA. We have negotiated successful claims for thousands of property owners, both domestic and commercial. The way we assess claims typically leads to the outcomes our clients desire, whether that’s a cash settlement, or repair and replacement of property and goods.

At Aspray, our loss assessors have years of experience in handling claims. They know the property scene inside out, as well as knowing how water damage can affect a building’s fabric, electrical wiring and flooring. Also, they understand how soot and smoke from a fire can work its way into a property’s structure and even corrode components in equipment such as TVs and video players.

At Aspray, they will ensure your claim is presented in your best interests, working tirelessly to make sure you don’t have to compromise by moving back into a house with perhaps an odd three-piece suite, or a mismatched kitchen if your policy allows otherwise, just because you managed to move some possessions, or only had water damage to base units and not all units.

All of this matters. Appointing Aspray means that you won’t have to try to become an insurance expert overnight, make and take numerous phone calls, or have to book days off work, just to keep

“A loss assessor is likely to see things differently and enters the scenario only if you take up your right to appoint them.

There are many benefits if you do.”

Remember to aim for a just settlement, not an adjusted one, if fate deals your property a cruel blow. Please call 0800 077 6705 if you want to set that process in motion.

Why it Pays to Know the Difference Between a Loss Adjuster and a Loss Assessor

Contact Email: info@aspray.com Company: Aspray, 9 Dalton Court, Commercial Road, Darwen, BB3 0DG, UK Telephone: 0800 0776705 Web Address: www.aspray.com

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An Investment Company with a Difference Investment managers come in all shapes and sizes. Whether they are stockbrokers, work for large fund houses or operate as one-man bands, there’s no such thing as a typical investment manager. However, Clear Capital Management LLP (Clear CM), named as Best Discretionary Portfolio Manager in England 2017 by the Wealth & Finance Awards, believes it certainly falls within the category of “untypical” investment manager.

Clear CM was founded on the premise that it could fill a niche that financial advisers and planners were crying out for. The theory was that these Regulated Financial Advisers (RFAs) were, more often than not, limited to taking products designed by investment managers for investment managers.

Fundamentally, Clear CM was determined to redress the balance. The company’s senior partner, Martin Vaughan CFP, APFS is a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner with 30 years’ experience. When he is wearing his Chartered Wealth Manager’s hat, he is in a unique position to offer investments that are tailored perfectly for RFAs and their clients. With such a depth of knowledge and understanding of how financial planners work, and how they best achieve results for investors, Martin felt that he could finally offer something that was, perhaps surprisingly, very unusual in the world of investment management.

As a financial planner, Martin spent many years sitting down with clients; understanding their aims, assessing their assets and liabilities, getting to grips with their true objectives, discovering their real attitude to risk and helping them to agree realistic assumptions. After this process, he would then work alongside them to create an appropriate financial plan, designed to give those clients a meaningful path towards the life they were seeking.

But investors’ needs vary wildly. Some financial plans were much easier to produce than those for other clients, which did not always correspond with any of the actual investments that were available.

This, according to Martin, was frustrating to say the least, as it also limited his ability to create an investment portfolio that enabled clients to fully achieve their objectives.

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“Financial planning requires a lot of work and input,” said Martin. “We might have known the right answers for achieving the perfect financial plan, but if the right product wasn’t there, we would be forced to find the closest compromise.

“It was also very frustrating to see the way in which the client’s investments were often managed.

When you drill down into a client’s individual needs, risk tolerance and objectives, it was not always a question of them wanting growth above all things. Yet the desire for growth was sometimes the only consideration for some investment managers.”

It is true that a financial planner’s role is to ensure that the various taxation wrappers used to house the client’s assets are used as effectively as possible. But a client can have many different objectives. It may be a question of whether they want to take an income from their investment, and whether they want this income to be for the same amount each time it is paid. They may have different investment objectives for each taxation wrapper, or they have a greater or lesser ability to weather the ups and downs of the investment markets.

Martin spent many years as a director of a stockbroking firm which also had discretionary investment permissions and its own in-house funds. He quickly learned that his background made him somewhat of a rare species and, on many occasions, was utilised by the firm to provide a link between the financial planners and the investment managers.

gave him all the tools to set up his own investment management company, Clear CM. Clear CM creates investment portfolios that are built specifically for financial planners. Even the choice of the name ‘Clear’ was deliberately designed to reflect Martin’s commitment to cutting out the jargon and aiding communication across all areas. The company has now constructed innovative investment portfolios where the reduction of volatility, and the ability to be able to allocate to the right asset class at the right time are of strategic importance.

Currently, Clear CM offers a range of six “Classic” portfolios with varying degrees of risk. These are not too dissimilar to the types of portfolio offered by many DFMs. But the company also offers a range of Absolute Return Fixed Weight (ARFW) portfolios, which is quite uncommon. The key benefits of these is that they provide lower risk* and lower volatility than standard portfolios, largely due to the inclusion of a fixed interest “anchor” within its asset mix. This strategy has previously not been available on Model Portfolio Services managed on UK platforms.

Ultimately, Clear CM’s strategy appears to be paying off. Up to the end of September 2017, even his lowest performing portfolio had outperformed its benchmark by more than 38 per cent since inception**. This is certainly an investment management company we could all learn from.

*Note: All investments carry some risk.

This experience not only confirmed his belief that communication between investment managers and financial planners could be vastly improved, but it

**(Source: Clear Capital Management LLP) Note: Past performance is not a reliable guide to future results.

An Investment Company with a Difference

Company: Clear Capital Management LLP Contact: Martin Vaughan Contact Email: m.vaughan@clearcm.co.uk Address: 35 New Bridge Street, London, EC4V 6BW, UK Phone: 020 3011 5200 Website: www.clearcm.co.uk

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Independent Financial Advisers For almost 30 years Manning and Company has been giving clients trustworthy, proven and personal financial advice. Paul Northmore describes more about the firm and the services that it offers, telling us about the firm’s ongoing success.

With offices in Devon, Cornwall and Glasgow, Manning and Company are a respected and well-established name in the UK, particularly the South West. Staff provide financial guidance to individuals and businesses alike, and are completely independent of any financial institutions. The team offer financial products from across the whole of the market, meaning clients always get fully-informed, impartial advice.

Paul starts off by outlining the overall mission for the company and what steps the firm takes to achieve this, before explaining how Manning and Company differentiates itself from its competitors and ensures it gets the best business.

“Here at Manning and Company, we firmly believe good financial advice should be available to everyone, not just wealthy clients, and all of our clients receive the same level of attention and respect. Throughout the company, we have 30 years’ experience and our advisers have all worked in financial services for many years. We feel that speaks volumes in the quality of advice we are providing.

“Clients will only ever be concerned about two things in life; living too long or dying too soon.

Our aim is to make sure that our clients never lay awake at night worrying about these things. Advice that can be clearly understood is the fulcrum to a trusted advice process.”

It is this experience, along with the quality of service and advice that the firm offers which has led to Manning and Company featuring in the 2017 Finance Top 100. Paul explains what it means to the firm to be featured in these awards and comments on the expertise and quality of the company’s staff.

“Regarding how it feels to feature in this magazine, we are delighted to in the top 100 alongside likeminded professionals. Together we ensure that people are getting the best help possible with their finances.

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“An accolade such as this is a fantastic talking point for our advisers, not only to our clients but also our contacts in other sectors. We know that our advisers are among the best in the business and this award proves that.”

Working within the fast-paced financial industry, it is vital that the company remains on the cutting edge of new developments, as the market is constantly changing and firms are having to adapt the services and advice that they provide. Paul refers to how the team ensure that they are always in the best possible position to meet and exceed client expectations, whilst adapting to the relevant trends at the time.

“Continuously learning, our advisers are constantly taking new qualifications to keep on top of current regulation and legislation. Recently Lisa Julian, Kate Gannon and Peter Harrison passed their exams to become Pension Transfer Specialists.

Passing the CII AF7 makes them experts in the fundamental aspects of the pension transfer process; the implications of transferring between different types of pensions, and develops their skills across a range of client circumstances and scenarios.

“Furthermore, there has been a change in financial services recently which means we are no longer talking to our clients about specific products. Yes, these are the tools in the box, but much more than this, we are looking to provide solutions so that dreams can be achieved by managing our clients’ financial situation.”

A thriving work environment means the company is more likely to be successful both in the present and the future. Commenting on the internal culture within the company, Paul must ensure the right steps are taken to cultivate an environment in which all staff are working together.

“As we expand and more advisers join us, we work hard to ensure that all of our advisers are using the same approach. One size does not fit all and we

“...there is a lot to look forward to for Manning and Company, and Paul signs off by mentioning some projects which the firm are likely to undertake, as well as predicting what developments and advances will arise within the firm.” need to sustain that we provide financial advice for all, regardless of the circumstances.”

Moving forward, there is a lot to look forward to for Manning and Company, and Paul signs off by mentioning some projects which the firm are likely to undertake, as well as predicting what developments and advances will arise within the firm.

“Ultimately, we are constantly innovating and always embrace positive changes in our profession. We believe that technology will play an ever increasing part in helping clients arrive at the right solutions, and are looking at enhancing software across all of our business to improve economy of scale and to help clients in the planning process. Lastly, we believe that there will continue to be pressure to bring product charges down which can only result in better client outcomes moving forward.”

Independent Financial Advisers

Contact: Paul Northmore Contact Email: pnorthmore@manningandco.co.uk Address: Delamore Park, Cornwood, Ivybridge, Devon, PL21 9QP, UK Phone: 01752 837950 Website: www.manningandco.co.uk

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HairMax: The Science of Hair Growth

Company: Lexington International. Maker of HairMax Founder/CEO: Mr. David Michaels Contact Media Contact: Francesca Dubsky, Director of Marketing Contact Email: fd@hairmax.com Address: 1040 Holland Drive, Boca Raton, Florida, FL 33487, USA Phone: 001561 314 2430 Website: www.hairmax.com

Lexington International develops leading edge home use laser hair growth medical devices, and a full line of products and treatments for hair loss and thinning hair. Founder of HairMax, David Michaels provides us with an overview of the firm and what the future looks like for the company.

HairMax, Lexington’s Flagship brand, is clinically proven and FDA Cleared as a drug free treatment for hair loss in men and women. The firm’s demographic is typically Men ages 20-70 and women 35-80. Although hair loss is a condition more commonly thought of as a man’s issue, we have found that female hair loss is a growing concern as it is not fashionable for women to go bald and shave their head like a man, and can be very emotional. Since hair loss affects such a large demographic, Hairmax’s clients are very diverse from all corners of the world.

Mr. Michaels starts off the interview by describing the firm’s mission and strategies both the company and brand has in place in order to reach its goals.

“Early on, we developed a strong understanding of the emotional stress associated with hair loss. We quickly adopted a mission to help as many people as possible address their hair loss, regain their hair and their confidence. Our company was founded on this principle of helping hair loss sufferers, and we have instilled this principal into our team and policies. Further on, we developed hair growth laser devices at various price points, to enable people to acquire our devices and treat their hair loss, regardless of their budget.”

Working within such a vital industry, understanding the needs of the client and ensuring that they receive excellent customer support is a necessity for the firm to succeed. Mr. Michaels explains how the team ensure that clients experience outstanding customer service, and receive the very best advice about their hair loss issues.

“Lexington is a certified ISO13485 facility. A significant part of our certification, and culture, is focused on employee training. We have a motto that is instilled from day one; ‘Do What is Right for the Customer’.

“Management has an open door policy when it comes to customer issues, and we encourage our staff to escalate any issue that cannot be resolved to the customer’s best interest.”

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With new technology solutions and developments arising on a daily basis, Mr. Michaels, comments on how HairMax has seen technology evolve and whether there is any room for even further steps in efficacy whilst maintaining a safety profile for home use.

“Laser technology for hair growth has evolved from its beginnings as an office or clinic treatment to a home use device. Our devices have evolved over the years from handheld comb devices, which people still enjoy, to our newest range of LaserBand devices, which provide an even easier and faster treatment. In fact, our newest device, the LaserBand 82 provides the fastest laser hair loss treatment time in the industry, as little as 90 seconds, just three days a week. This device delivers low level laser light energy to your hair follicles via 82 medical grade lasers. When moved over the head in three simple moves, it equates 246 laser coverage.

HairMax devices are FDA Cleared, and are proven safe and effective in seven clinical studies, and most importantly can reverse the thinning process and regrow denser, fuller hair.”

Outside of the U.S., customers do not always understand the significance of FDA approval, and Mr. Michaels provides us with a quick summary of why it is such a critical stamp of approval, and why that stamp is globally recognised and stands out.

“Fundamentally, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of a wide range of items for medical use, including drugs, medical devices, food, cosmetics and many other health-related products.

“Medical Devices must go through rigorous clinical studies and a 510k submission before being allowed to be cleared or approved into the market. It also needs to be proven that the medical device will not only not do harm, but also that it will do good. The entire purpose of a medical device is to improve someone’s health, and if

the item does not meet the standards, it will not receive clearance or approval by the FDA. “After extensive clinical studies, HairMax was the first ever home use hair growth medical device to be granted clearance by the FDA for the treatment of hair loss and promotion of hair growth in males in 2007. In 2011, additional clinical studies were submitted to the FDA and clearance was also granted to HairMax laser devices for females with hereditary hair loss.

“To date, there are seven FDA clearances of HairMax Laser devices, all of which prove not only safety, but also effectiveness based on scientifically designed clinical research studies. In addition to FDA clearances, HairMax laser devices also hold 14 medical device licenses worldwide.”

Ultimately, the home use beauty device market continues to grow, and Mr. Michaels signs off by commenting on what area he thinks will see the next big device.

“Over the past several years, there is a definite shift in consumer preference for home use products for everything from hair growth, hair removal, teeth whitening and skin care. It is all part of the increased demand for anti-aging and rejuvenation treatments that people can do at home, safely and affordably.”

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P R O P E R T Y I S N ’ T A B O U T B R I C K S A N D M O R TA R , IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE

MAKING THE COMPLEX SIMPLE With a forward-thinking approach and unparalleled understanding of the complexities of city centre developments. Court excels at unlocking unique opportunities for our investment partners and city landowners.

T: 0121 796 1777 E: info@courtcollaboration.com courtcollaboration.com

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Delivering Consistent Investment Outperformance Mansard, founded in 2010 provides professional investors access to superior returns via some of leading investment managers globally.

Having worked through many business cycles, particularly post the financial crisis we have witnessed a remarkable trend towards consensus performance within the investment management industry. The result was a near extinction of genuine investment ability amongst traditional managers in favour of mediocrity and a focus upon damage limitation.

Mansard was created to help investors benefit from various market opportunities and the niche skills of our partners bring, delivering consistent investment outperformance.

Who is your partner on your “flagship” fund the “Sellar Development Fund”?

Sellar Group is one of the UK’s leading property development companies with a core focus on London. Sellar has an outstanding reputation within the property community and has been a pioneer on the regeneration of many London suburbs. Designled development projects have helped transform many areas for the local community, unlocking true value and a vast improvement to the infrastructure.

Sellar are world renowned for the development of The Shard Quarter, transforming the Borough of Southwark and bringing London the award-winning and Europe’s tallest building, The Shard, which won the Emporis Skyscraper of the Year for 2014 and was shortlisted for the Stirling Architectural ward 2014.

Tell us about your relationship with “Sellar” and the goals of your fund Our relationship with James Sellar, CEO of the Sellar Group started around 5 years ago and after considerable due diligence, research and consideration on the right investment structure, we successfully launched the Sellar Development Fund in 2014.

Sellar Group is the property development manager on the fund and we are the fund manager and it falls

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under our regulatory and compliance oversight as a regulated asset manager by the Malta Financial Services Authority.

The Sellar Development Fund brings investors a unique opportunity to co-invest with other institutional investors and the Sellar Group on leading off market development projects. The fund invests into a diverse pipeline of opportunities across London which is predominately mixed-use developments, capitalising on the housing shortage and long term structural imbalance, but also the commercial sector.

The fund invests into sites that have been bought at an off-market discount, providing investors with capital protection and security; as we structure loans that are secured against properties that are purchased way below market values. The fund seeks to deliver a net return of 10-12% to investors over a business cycle and has successfully achieved this since inception.

Why invest into London?

The history of London can be tracked back to the Roman’s, as can its property law. London constantly reinvents itself, rising to the challenges set by many developing countries across the globe. Many investors see London as a “safe haven” and it has always attracted foreign investment.

The UK population is set to pass 70 million before the end of the next decade, according to official figures. Demographers project that the population will rise by 3.6 million, or 5.5%, over the next 10 years, rising from an estimated 65 million last year to 70 million in mid-2026. Between mid-1991 and mid-2016 the UK population grew by 8.2 million.

It is estimated by the government that London requires around 50,000 new homes a year to be built to cater for the current demands of population growth. There is a significant shortfall on the amount of properties being delivered and this provides a

great opportunity for developers like Sellar.

Why should you invest into a fund instead of exploring direct investment into a physical property?

The real question is whether the investor wants to be a landlord and deal with the sometimes time consuming and laborious task of dealing with tenants. In addition, owning a physical asset as opposed to owning shares in a fund that lends against world class development projects, could provide far less liquidity and not as much upside potential in terms of annual returns.

The “buy to let” sector in London is attractive with rental yields circa 3.5% and growth opportunities still exist, however government policy in the past few years has become increasing unattractive in the UK with a hike in property income taxes and stamp duty.

How does the fund invest into Sellar Groups projects and how does this benefit investors?

Pre-2008, the development market was thriving, and almost 100% of financing was provided by household name banks like HSBC, Barclay’s, RBS and Lloyds, with tighter regulation and monetary policy, the appetite for lending in the development sector is no longer as strong. The banking sector with government intervention and support is very focused on residential lending and particularly firsttime lenders. This has created a number of different sectors within development lending, such as peer to peer lending, mezzanine lending, bridge financing and crowd funding. Today most major development sites are funding by institutional investors, pension funds, ultra-high net worth’s and lending options as listed above. Our fund allows investors to participate in off-market structured finance deals which are secured against London real estate and tends to coinvest with larger institutional investors, but on equal deal terms. The fund typically provides loans over a development cycle of 3-5 years, but the fund often negotiates various exit clauses in the deal terms

Delivering Consistent Investment Outperformance

“Mansard was created to help investors benefit from various market opportunities and the niche skills of our partners bring, delivering consistent investment outperformance.”

and profits from an equity stake in each project, delivering investors a 10-12% net return.

We were extremely proud to have initially made the top 100 and then to be given the prestigious title of “Real Estate Fund Manager of the Year” is

a fabulous honour and recognition of the funds success over the past three years. It has been a difficult market to navigate with the political uncertainty that Brexit has caused, so we are grateful for this high recognition by Wealth & Finance.

Contact: Daniel McGonigle Title: Partner – Head of Distribution Contact Email: d.mcgonigle@mansardcm.com Company: Mansard Capital Management 42-44 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3UD, UK Telephone: +44 (0) 203 475 685 Web Address: www.mansardcm.com

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Finance in Safe Hands

Company: Astra Asset Management UK Limited Contact: Joseph Shiels Contact Email: joseph.shiels@astra-amco.com Address: 35 King Street, London, EC2V 8EH, UK Phone: 2031899700 Website: www.astra-amco.com

Astra Asset Management manages assets for some of the worlds most respected global institutions, for family offices and high net worth individuals, both in Europe and the US. Joseph Shiels discusses what services the firm provides and how the team works hard to ensure it delivers the best service.

Founded in August 2012, Astra is a specialist credit asset manager that aims to generate outsized returns through investments in non-vanilla credit strategies exploiting complexity, relative value and capital structure arbitrage opportunities across asset classes both in the US and in Europe.

We focus on instruments backed by mortgages and corporate debt, but frequently get involved in distressed credit situations linked to operating assets as well. Joseph outlines the firm’s overall mission, and describes what steps the firm will put in place in order to reach its targets.

“Astra will continue to target outsized returns, providing quality solutions for its clients through their expert use of credit instruments. We maintain a stance that as an investment manager we should be firmly aligned with our clients; an all too uncommon occurrence in today’s market. To ensure alignment, we have allocated the most part of our own investable assets to the fund along with our investors, whom we consider as partners. In addition, incentive fees are not charged unless the fund earns at least 5% and 10% per annum.”

In many of its services, Joseph acknowledges that the firm is similar to its peers, however, he is keen to comment on how Astra differentiates itself from its competitors thanks to its unique solutions.

“Similar to our peers in the credit space, Astra achieves returns through holding credit risky instruments. Where Astra distinguishes itself from our competitors is by offering niche products and solutions for our investors. A significant portion of our returns is derived from understanding the bespoke structural features of the assets we invest in and our ability to monetise complexity that only very few managers can confidently price.”

Moving on, Joseph explains how it feels to have been selected in the Hedge 100 as the Most Outstanding Hedge Fund Manager in 2017, before going on to explains what this means for the company and how they plan to capitalise on this success.

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“A fundamental aspect of all our achievements and the success we enjoy at Astra is very much a team effort, everyone was delighted to be notified we had won this prestigious award. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication applied throughout the firm, and an endorsement that great results can be achieved for our investors by following a sensible, thoughtful investment process.

“It is especially rewarding to receive recognition for the hard work we do in such a competitive international field, it helps validate the company’s strategy of staying disciplined in what we do best, and having an excellent product that management believe in and support.”

Following on from discussing how the award is a team effort, Joseph refers to the internal culture within Astra, mentioning the stringent hiring structure which guarantees that the right people are hired, and how the leadership team ensures that all staff are working towards achieving the same mission.

“Given Astra’s boutique character, we are fortunate in that we have been able to grow utilizing relationships of existing team members both at senior and junior level. Junior staff go through a twelve-month training program during which time they get exposure to different areas of the business; they do not have one mentor, but have direct access to all members of the management team. We are careful to ensure that new joiners are a good fit personality-wise to maintain the family style atmosphere at Astra.

“In addition to an intellectually stimulating environment, Astra offers a performance and success based compensation scheme. The company has an excellent track record of retaining talent.”

Finally, Joseph finds it hard to predict what the future holds for Astra, but seems confident that the whole team will be able to stay ahead of any upcoming developments within the industry.

Having shown resilience and strength in the past,

“Astra will continue to target outsized returns, providing quality solutions for its clients through their expert use of credit instruments.

We maintain a stance that as an investment manager we should be firmly aligned with our clients; an all too uncommon occurrence in today’s market.”

Joseph signs off by explaining that the company is always looking forward, and there is always room for it to grow its services.

“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. Astra has the ability to respond to challenges and the flexibility to adapt to a changing market and macro-economic environment. Astra’s asset class focus will evolve given the changes in the primary market for structured credit and asset backed securities after the financial crisis; many investors have to cope with a new regulatory environment, and Astra has been able to provide solutions through a new platform we created.

There is definitely room to grow.”

Finance in Safe Hands

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Wealth Management for Life.

Beckford James are experienced, independent chartered financial planners. We invited Partner & Chartered Financial Planner, Joseph Maguire to provide us with an insight into the company’s success behind the scenes.

Beckford James works with a wide variety of clients in the financial industry, with 80% of the firm typically being private clients and 20% being corporate clients. Outlining the firm’s overall mission, Joseph tells us what steps the firm plans to take to reach its goals.

“Here at Beckford James, we believe that all financial advice is only relevant if it is part of an overall plan. As such, we encourage all our clients to engage in strategic financial planning as all subsequent decisions stem naturally from this.

We also try to make planning enjoyable and easily understandable rather than leaving clients in a world of jargon.”

An integral aspect of the firm’s success is its customer service, with the team ensuring that clients receive only the best service possible.

Crucial to this is the company’s internal culture, and Joseph refers us to the five values which are embedded in the culture of the company.

“Ensuring our clients come away satisfied, we offer a personal service with an advice team, client service team and administration team who are all focused on clients. Our culture revolves around five core values: treat others as you would like to be treated; make it enjoyable; be courageous; make a difference; work collaboratively.

“Translating this into client service requires an increasing commitment to professionalism and encouraging all staff to participate in continuing professional development. This in turn means clients are dealt with by well trained and qualified staff enabling a better level of service.”

Commenting on the firm’s financial performance over the past twelve months, Joseph signs off by

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“...we believe that all financial advice is only relevant if it is part of an overall plan. As such, we encourage all our clients to engage in strategic financial planning as all subsequent decisions stem naturally from this.” hinting at the secrets behind its success and how this sets Beckford James up perfectly to move forward with their ambitions and future projects.

“Having been successful for us in the past, we target at least 20% growth per year and have achieved this for the last seven years. We aim to grow organically and the culture fit must be right.

“Looking ahead, this year sees major commitment to infrastructure and operational spending to support the growing business and to continue to provide a top level of client service. We also continue to explore other locations but as mentioned above trying to find the right people with the right cultural fit is more important than expansion for expansion’s sake.”

Company: Beckford James LLP Financial Planning Contact: Joseph Maguire Contact Email: joemaguire@beckfordjames.com Address: Queen Square House, Queen Square Place, Bath, BA1 2LL, UK Phone: 01225 437600 Website: www.beckfordjames.com

Wealth Management for Life.

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Bold. Flexible. Patient.

Investing in Africa.

Alta Semper invests patient, flexible and strategic capital across growth markets with a specific focus on Africa.

We invited Afsane Jetha to tell us more about the firm as we examine the secrets behind its success.

Alta Semper was established in 2015 by Ronald Lauder (Chairman of Clinique LLC), Richard Parsons (former CEO of Time Warner Group) and Afsane Jetha, Managing Partner and CEO. The firm invest across two industry verticals: locallyproduced and value-priced consumer goods, the and high quality, yet affordable healthcare solutions. Afsane starts off by outlining the firm’s overall mission, its aims and just some of the solutions that the company can offer.

“Throughout the company, our mission is to capture the tremendous growth opportunity of Africa, and over time other growth markets, while also promoting positive social, environmental and governance change at our portfolio companies.

We aim to provide our investors, who constitute a broad range of institutional and HNW individuals, risk-adjusted exposure to the markets in which we invest, through specific strategies related to structuring our transaction, vertically integrating into the supply chain where appropriate as well as investing across complementary and interconnected regions.”

Currently, the financial industry is very difficult to predict and Afsane provides us with her views of the market at present, explaining which factors and external influences make it difficult to predict. She talks about which particular areas Alta Semper are particularly interested in.

“It is in our fabric to take a generational approach to investing, due to our African heritage and shareholder base. We believe that investing across African growth markets requires patient capital to alleviate pressure to realise value in times of currency instability and geopolitical unrest. As such, we tend to like to invest in companies where there may be a need for a longer-term investment period than the traditional private equity fund.

These include buy-and-build platforms in the retail and medical facilities sectors, businesses with regional aspirations, consumer and healthcare platforms with the desire to vertically integrate into the supply chain or distribution channel, earlystage growth equity, and, of particular interest to Alta Semper are family family-owned businesses where institutionalisation is needed.”

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Ensuring that Alta Semper is able to stay ahead of emerging developments within the industry, Afsane describes what techniques the firm employs in order to stay ahead of these advances.

“In this ever evolving industry, we aim to meet the growing needs of a burgeoning youthful population and an expanding middle-class by investing in locally-produced and value-priced consumer goods such as food, beverage, supermarkets, personal care products and retailers. We do not believe Africa is an asset class; Africa is comprised of 54 sovereign countries, each with a unique history, stage of development and competitive advantages.

Our shareholder-base and advisory board provide direct access into the decision-makers at several large strategic corporates and allow us to engage with these as joint-venture partners.

“Furthermore, our strong and diverse local and global network allows us to draw on a diverse set of strategic, industry-specific and financial resources. We believe this makes a significant difference to our investors’ business and wealth.”

Holding a wealth of experience and knowledge within a variety of sectors, the areas that the company work in tend to overlap, with Afsane leadings us towards the firm’s focus in a geographical sense. She is quick to praise the experience and skill of the team, meaning Alta Semper enters each transaction confident of it being a success.

“Operating in a variety of sectors, we see value in deep-sector knowledge, and strong empirical evidence that sector specialists outperform. Our chosen sectors share many characteristics; the Consumer and Healthcare sectors often overlap in growth markets, where there is a lack of health insurance or state-funded access to healthcare.

Many of our geographies of focus are plagued by a lack of or illiquid capital markets, undercapitalised banks, a dearth of home-grown management talent within nascent industries as well as volatile currencies. As such, we believe it is important to understand the spectrum of capital structuring options available to bring the right type of capital to the companies in which we invest. This capital

“...the financial industry is very difficult to predict and Afsane provides us with her views of the market at present, explaining which factors and external influences make it difficult to predict.”

could be structured as equity or an equity-like structured product, depending on our perception of the optimal risk-return trade-off for the opportunity at hand. Our team is highly experienced in equity, mezzanine and convertible structuring, and brings these skills to bear in each transaction.”

In her concluding comments, Afsane signs off by predicting what the future holds for Alta Semper, commenting on how the firm has grown since its inception and what plans it has going forward.

“Ultimately, we have been busy since inception and closed our first acquisition, a controlling stake in Egypt’s largest cosmeceutical company earlier this year. We have several other transactions that we are looking to close in early 2018, such as a growth capital investment in a leading speciality North African health-care retailer as well as a large pharmacy platform in West Africa. Our aim is to deploy more than US$300m into African growth markets over the next 24 months.”

Bold. Flexible. Patient. Investing in Africa.

Company: Alta Semper Capital LLP Contact Email: info@altasemper.com Address: 35 Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, W1J 5BF, UK Website: www.altasemper.com

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Providing Regulatory Excellence in the Financial Industry I-FACT Limited is an experienced team of specialised regulatory consultants who provide customised solutions to meet the needs of firms authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We caught up with Founder and Director John Derry-Collins to find out more about the firm, which has been named Best Specialised Regulatory Consultants – UK as part of our overview of the UK Best in Business.

Established in 1996, I-FACT draws on John’s vast experience in the industry, working with insurance companies and supporting them through their compliance with the Foster Green papers, which evolved into becoming the first Financial Services Act 1964. John explores how both the industry and his firm have evolved since then and how I-FACT’s commitment to meeting its clients’ needs has helped it to flourish.

“Back when I first started I-FACT, there were nine different regulators with a vast array of mnemonics describing each of them. As the insurance companies we had been working with were each developing their own compliance teams, I moved on to the next market sector demonstrating demand which was Independent Financial Advisers. That is where I created my company’s name from; ‘Independent Financial Advisers Compliance and Training’ (I-FACT).

“Regulation as stipulated by LAUTRO was all about training and competence, and as such when our company started we first began by printing Training & Competence(T&C) manuals, which were mandatory for all firms. This then developed into a full-service compliance consultancy focusing on IFAs and working with insurance institutions that wished to support IFAs. Within the first few weeks I was approached by another consultant who wanted to be in this market and she joined me from that point onwards and the company grew quite quickly. Fortunately, the company has never needed to seek recruits as recruits always manage to find us and, if suitable, complement and share in our culture and that is how the company developed.”

Today, the firm offers even more services and has grown into an innovative consultancy which

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remains at the forefront of emerging market developments, as John discusses.

“As the networks for IFA’s grew ever larger, we delivered service to these networks by providing them initially with T&C manuals, then compliance manuals. We also delivered education and training courses under the banner of these networks and also built up a healthy client bank of IFAs. We then moved into the service area of getting intermediaries authorised by the Regulator. This is still a major part of our workload.

“Later, as the industry evolved over time and IFAs decreased in number, regulation continued to spread to other sectors. A major move for us was when the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD) was consulted upon. We were engaged by major players in the motor industry to authorise, educate and train all their main dealers, which kept us busy for a further two years. Staff numbers increased to over 40 at the time two major insurance companies challenged us to offer information and advice about authorisation assistance to 800 or more of their main brokers. In terms of activity and turnover, this was by far our busiest period and one of the software companies that wished to supply services to the industry engaged us for a short period of time, liked what we did and then made an irresistible offer to purchase. We successfully worked our way through the two year buy-out period, hitting all the right numbers, sold the company and I attempted retirement. It only lasted three weeks, as I missed the cut and thrust of being involved in regulatory consultancy and, as the buyers breached some warranties, I took the company back including consultants and intellectual property rights but decided to run it much more as a lifestyle company.

“...we are working a great deal with P2P platforms and Money Service Businesses...”

“Since that date we have steered well clear of the motor industry and focus very much on areas where legislation is spreading, so we like to think of ourselves as being at the cutting edge of regulation. Currently, we are working a great deal with P2P platforms and Money Service Businesses (MSBs), as one of our Directors is a Payment Specialist, while maintaining our client bank of Wealth Managers and IFAs. We are particularly happy when long-term clients come back to us, offering a fresh challenge when they wish to vary permissions or are moving to a new market area.”

Moving forward, there are many more developments within the financial services industry which look set to give I-FACT even more opportunities to grow and succeed, as John proudly concludes.

“Ultimately, for all consultancies, BREXIT is very good news as, whenever there is change, consultants can help firms embrace change.

European legislation will be with us for many years to come, but this will soon be evolving into transitional arrangements and following completion of BREXIT our own legislation will be extremely similar, or indeed equivalent to EU regulation so there will be a great deal of work for consultants to do in interpreting an even more complicated regulatory structure. These are exciting times for firms such as I-FACT and we are looking forward to seeing what the future has in store.”

Providing Regulatory Excellence in the Financial Industry

Company: I-FACT Limited Contact: John Derry-Collins Address: Trident House, Kingston Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 7LT, UK Phone: 08456 121211 Website: www.ifact.co.uk

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Global Connectivity for Investors Fund Connect is an online trading, analytics and settlement tool used for by investors to manage cash in global Money Market Funds (MMFs) and Short Duration Bond Funds. We profile this innovative product, which won Best for Investment Research & Trading – USA in our highly regarded 2017 Finance Awards programme.

Fund Connect is State Street’s market-leading, short-term liquidity trading portal and forms part of the GlobalLink suite of electronic trading solutions, alongside FX Connect and Currenex, which are utilised by the world’s largest institutional investors.

Fund Connect is a comprehensive liquidity management solution providing cash investors with real-time trading, risk analytics, customized reporting and automated settlement across a wide range of global money market products through a single interface.

As part of its commitment to providing clients with the highest possible standards of trading flexibility, operational support and client service, Fund Connect facilitates access to a range of global fund providers through an intuitive web-delivered platform. The Fund Connect Auto-Settlement technology can fully automate the investment and settlement process via SWIFT, thus eliminating the errors associated with manual processes.

Fund Connect’s ability to support multiple trading styles, through a single interface, to multiple fund providers increases efficiency, reduces risk and enhances relationships between investors and their fund providers. Additionally, Fund Connect allows investors immediate access to the information they require to make informed investment decisions including instrument-level holdings information which can be analysed via the Transparency Connect customisable reporting tool.

Fundamentally, Fund Connect is designed to streamline the investor’s workflow, eliminate errors and provide valuable risk analytics allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks. This objective is the ongoing focus for the Fund Connect team as they continue to develop new features and functionality in response to a changing regulatory environment.”

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Finance in Safe Hands

Company: Fund Connect Contact: Kristin Sullivan Address: One Lincoln Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 2111, USA Phone: 001 617 664 7330 Website: www.globallink.com/en/TradeExecution/ Trade/FundConnect/index.htm

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Securing Your Company, Your Home Office and Your Mobile Activity Idappcom is a privately owned security software development and security services business. We profiled the firm and sat down with CEO, Ray Bryant who reveals more about one of the rising companies in the exciting world of cybersecurity.

Established in 2004, Idappcom is an innovative company that works closely with other security vendors, universities and independent researchers to provide a common set of protection solutions and practices. The mission is to use these skills and years of knowledge gained by working with the worldwide high-end security experts to improve the security posture of smaller organisations and to meet the changing way we access global and corporate data, from home office and public wifi hotspots.

Idappcom’s management skill set were honed in senior roles including global corporate IT functions serving the needs of military and government organisations. This has led to the development of a small, close team of experts responsible for the creation of network security tools, exploit research and matched policy rule development plus innovative intrusion prevention systems and services.

Idappcom’s integrated product set provides corporate SECops teams with all the tools needed to test their network security controls and to manage the remediation and update process required to ensure that system and business data is protected against the latest attacks. New threats are emerging every day, which means that routine network testing is a critical part of any business IT process.

Idappcom provides access to its database of exploits and rules to both developers and major vendors for use in product development and testing in live network environments.

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However, it is not just large corporations that are being attacked, SMEs and smart homes are also now regularly targeted. The trend to work from home and connect to work through employees own devices (BYOD) and the rapidly expanding availability of wireless hotspots has opened a path for hackers to follow. Smart phones, ipads and laptops has given a new ease of access to valuable personal data including bank account details.

Idappcom has recognised two major issues for SMEs looking to secure their networks; the high cost of hardware and the ongoing management skills needed to keep them up to date. So, in 2016, Idappcom launched a managed cyber protection service specifically for SMEs, business travellers and Smart Home broadband network users.

Leveraging the company’s extensive knowledge and experience established through supplying and supporting network security products, the service provides a subscription based, enterprise level security solution managed by a team of security experts at affordable prices.

Ray starts off this interview by explaining the firm’s overall mission and describing what steps the firm takes to achieve this. Helping to reduce costs and really make a mark on the industry is something Ray is confident the company will continue to achieve.

“Here at Idappcom, our mission is to develop innovative solutions that address the real day to day challenges facing SECops and security

consultants, for all types of businesses. This is achieved through working closely with top security vendors and a continued investment in world-class security R&D to create practical tools that delivery measurable efficiency and budgetary savings for users.”

Working within such a competitive industry, helping the client and adapting its solutions to suit their needs is something which is crucial to the success of Idappcom. Ray tells us how he ensures that staff are able to maintain a high-quality service to customers.

“Guaranteeing that we get the best outcome for both sides, Idappcom works closely with all its customers. This allows a regular two-way flow of information that ensures Idappcom’s products and services keep pace with the changing threat landscape, as well as meeting the evolving needs of users to protect critical network assets.”

Overall, there are many reasons to be positive about the future for Idappcom. New developments within the industry are arising daily, meaning there is plenty of room for growth, something which excites Ray moving forwards.

“Whilst the need for security has been around since the mid 90’s, advances in digital technology and the growth of the Internet has meant that IT security is still a relatively new industry. The emergence of new and evermore sophisticated threats represents huge potential for growth and the need to continue to produce effective tools that

Securing Your Company, Your Home Office and Your Mobile Activity

Company: Idappcom Ltd Contact Name: Ray Bryant, CEO Address: Unit 6, Rural Enterprise Centre, Eco Park Road, Ludlow.

Shropshire SY8 1FF Telephone: +44 (0) 203 355 6804 Web Address: www.idappcom.com

The Idappcom GIPSY - Enterprise strength cyber-protection for Wifi hotspot access-points

“Idappcom’s management skill set were honed in senior roles including global corporate IT functions serving the needs of military and government organisations.” keep pace with the hacker community, particularly for the end-user sector.”

“This approach has recently been strengthened through the development of applications that ease the management of security rules and devices for network security managers. One such development is the adaption of an Idappcom Rules Management application to ease the task of forensic analysis by integrating with probes that record Terabytes of history of network traffic, enabling rapid investigation when an alert is triggered or when a new vulnerability is found.”

“Work is also continuing on developing the cyberprotection service, enabling users to access and set up the service in just a few days. Furthermore, trials are currently underway with several telco companies in SE Asia who are looking to white label the service for their broadband customers, a model that could be easily replicated in other parts of the world.”

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Supporting Businesses to Become Gender Intelligent Gender Intelligence is an understanding of and appreciation for the naturally occurring characteristics that distinguish men and women beyond the obvious biological and cultural, to include attitudinal and behavioural differences. The Gender Intelligence Group (GIG), led by CEO and Global Leader in Gender Intelligence, helps companies become more effective and produce greater, more sustainable results by seeking and blending the contribution of both men and women in unison. She talks us through the firm, which has been named 2017 Best in Executive Coaching in our prestigious Global Excellence Awards of 2017.

Drawing on Barbara’s vast experience in the consultancy market, GIG provides consulting services on the advancement and retention of women, and improving workplace culture. She discusses the firm’s core focus and how it works to ensure excellence for its clients.

“At GIG, our mission is to create sustainable impact. We find that a lot of organizations fall into window-dressing initiatives that do not have any specific metrics to support them. We strongly believe that by working with metrics, we can create a lasting impact with regards to the advancement and retention of women, and transforming workplace cultures. This also ties into business imperatives, impacting how businesses interact with their external clients.

“As part of this process, we look at gender equality from a strength-through-differences standpoint rather than equality in numbers. Our clientorganizations recognize that men and women bring different perspectives to the table and need each other’s perspectives to sustain growth and success in this highly competitive, global information age. Our clients include many in the Wealth and Finance sector: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, HSBC, American Express, CIBC, BMO, RBC, as well as many other smaller financial institutions. GIG also works within many other industries worldwide. Additionally, we focus on understanding innovation in a different way than most firms. Innovation is key, and what we have found in our research is that men and women innovate differently. When you combine these differing skills, you produce better results.

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“Uniquely, we are the only firm who have worked at this length in researching both women and men. There are other firms who work with the advancement of women only. We have taken a more inclusive approach by engaging men in the conversation. With GIG, men and women learn, work, and win together.”

Internally GIG seeks for staff who have not only a strong background in coaching and consultancy, but also a dedication to equality and who fit with the firm’s values, as Barbara highlights.

“When seeking new staff, we always look for people who fit with our values, which include collaboration, engagement and integrity. We hire and retain accordingly, and we have an impeccable track record with our clients for this reason. Whether we are intervening in executive coaching or a culture diagnostic, we as a group bring the best minds together with the highest values.”

Ultimately, as the corporate landscape continues to focus on gender equality and creating productive, supported workforces, Barbara foresees an increase in interest in her firm and the work it undertakes. GIG already has a number of exciting projects on the horizon which she is eager to explore in her concluding comments.

“Looking to the future, we have several plans in the woodwork which will provide us with great opportunities. In March 2018, we are releasing an online community of practice. This will give people who are interested in learning more about gender diversity, inclusion, or the advancement and

“At GIG, our mission is to create sustainable impact. We find that a lot of organizations fall into window-dressing initiatives that do not have any specific metrics to support them.” retention of women and minorities the opportunity to learn and engage in these topics online.

We also have an amazing e-learning platform we’ve created in partnership with Pearson Education. This is the Transformative Learning Experience, BeGenderIntelligent.

BeGenderIntelligent is an online interactive and engaging learning tool for people to truly understand how they can shift their behaviour and mindset, and be a more effective and inclusive leader.

“Overall, when it comes to women, there’s an enormous paradigm shift occurring that will impact the global corporate landscape. We have found a lot of potential clients asking for help in how they can instil inclusive behaviour in their managers and leaders. We expect to see a lot more training, shifting of cultural norms, and a focus on being inclusive and effective for both men and women of all diverse backgrounds.”

Supporting Businesses to Become Gender Intelligent

Company: Gender Intelligence Group Contact: Barbara Annis Phone: 001 212 672 1710 Address: 245 Park Avenue, 39th floor, New York, NY 10167 Website: www.GenderIntelligence.com

Wealth & Finance International - January 2018 31

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The Future is Ready to be Made

Company: Aberdeen Asset Management PLC Contact: Russell Barlow Email: claudia.svendsen@ aberdeenstandard.com Address: Bow Bells House, 1 Bread Street, London, EC4M 9HH, UK Phone: +44 (0) 20 7463 6000 Website: www.aberdeenstandard.com

Aberdeen Asset Management is a global asset management company focused on meeting the worldwide investment needs of institutions, private investors and the advisers who serve them. We did a Q&A with Russell Barlow to find out more about the successful company.

Please tell me about your firm, the work you do and the types of clients with whom you work.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1991, we are one of Europe’s largest public, pure-play investment managers.

To be world class, we aim for excellence in everything we do. Whether it is looking after our clients’ investments, offering our employees a rewarding career path, or helping ensure we are operating sustainably and for the long-term good of our planet. It is a commitment that has helped us become a trusted partner to individual and institutional investors around the world.

As Global Head of Alternative Investment Strategies, what do you and your team do for your investors?

My team helps our investor build more robust and diversified portfolios by providing research, access, implementation and ongoing management of portfolios of alternative investments. We began this kind of investing back in the 1990s with a fund of hedge funds approach, and have evolved over the years to provide a much wider range of solutions for all investors. These range from customised portfolios for institutional investors, UCITS and ’40 Act regulated or ‘liquid alternatives’ funds, low-cost risk premia strategies, focused single-strategy solutions, managed accounts, and of course, funds of hedge funds. These solutions can be focussed on return-seeking approaches, aim to provide strong diversification benefits, or protect portfolios during times of extreme market stress.

So, what is your investment philosophy when it comes to hedge funds and related alternative strategies and styles?

Markets are inefficient, dynamic and, in some cases, only just emerging – and so there are numerous investment opportunities that traditional long-only investments cannot access. These alternative strategies can provide returns that are not dependent on the equity risk premium, or on

32 Wealth & Finance International - January 2018

interest rates, and so can offer diversification and more ways to generate growth. These opportunities are often hard to find or hard to access.

To capture them effectively, fund managers need specialist skill sets, specific resources and/or proprietary systems. The managers providing access to these opportunities have historically been defined as “hedge funds”, although they are not a homogenous group. As such, hedge fund strategies should be divided up in different ways in order to make their analysis more meaningful. Essentially, each fund or strategy should deliver alpha relative to traditional long-only markets, leading to better risk-adjusted returns. This should be a result of manager skill and/or arbitrage exploitation.

To be world class, we aim for excellence in everything we do. Whether it is looking after our clients’ investments, offering our employees a rewarding career path, or helping ensure we are operating sustainably and for the long-term good of our planet.

Those of us that went through 2008 and see where markets are trading today think a lot about ‘times of extreme market stress’ that you mentioned earlier – what do you see investors doing about that today?

Financial markets have rallied a long way and, as history has shown, a bull market tends to be followed by a correction. The question we are asking is how hard would an investor be hit on the way down. There’s plenty to suggest that a correction may be overdue whether the driver is concerns over Brexit, President Trump or the soaring levels of the S&P index.

The Future is Ready to be Made

Wealth & Finance International - January 2018 33

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