For financial professionals only
30th June 2022 marks one year on from Parmenion’s departure from Standard Life Aberdeen to a new ownership structure made up of private equity (PE) house Preservation Capital Partners, Martin Gilbert’s AssetCo and over sixty members of staff.
PE backing can have a reputation for being disruptive, but not all PE firms are the same. Preservation was the preferred option for our executive team at the time of purchase, maybe because there’s a clue in this particular PE firm’s name.
Jatender Aujla and his co-directors didn’t just buy into Parmenion, they wanted to invest in our management team and strategy. They are happy to stay in the background, supporting business acceleration and helping preserve what makes us stand out – great service, great tech and great investment solutions.
As Jatender explains:
“We don’t want to ruin what is making the business a success by trying to interfere with the day-to-day running. We look to the management team – we invest in and get behind their plan. We’re just giving them the toolkit to invest in the platform and allowing them to increase their investment offering so they can serve their clients better.”
AssetCo are entirely in tune with that, with Gordon Neilly commenting:
“We like Parmenion a lot. We recognise they have a very strong management team, with great knowledge and understanding of the customer. We wanted to back the management team that we knew and trusted.”
One of the first things we did after leaving SLA was to change our pricing. Inevitably, some people assumed this was instigated by our new shareholders, but in fact the change was planned while Parmenion was still owned by them. It was a move designed to charge fairly for work done. In markets which are now less driven by central bank liquidity and more affected by crises, investors should be clear what they are paying for, and why.
It’s also the management team’s strategy, supported by our backers, that’s helping us move at pace in our aim to be the home for adviser firms’ centralised investment propositions.
Here are just five highlights from our first year together:
- Parmenion staff have become shareholders
In our new ownership structure, over 60 Parmenion colleagues now have a personal stake in the business.
- 3rd party DFMs added to the platform upon adviser request
So far, we’ve welcomed LGT, Tatton, Sarasin and Schroders onto the Parmenion platform, with more to come for advisers that want to run their CIP on Parmenion.
- Financial strength and stability ratings from AKG retained and still STRONG
Our AKG financial strength assessment was STRONG as part of abrdn and remains STRONG after leaving SLA.
- Advisory Models turn PRO – new and built for ease and efficiency COMING SOON
We’re taking away the admin burden and simplifying the data gathering for running your own model portfolios, giving you more time for your clients.
- Digital improvements to help you deliver great service to your clients
This summer we’re launching a Client App to help your clients access information and documentation about their accounts. At the same time, we’re giving our award winning adviser technology a facelift to make it easier to use and deepening our integrations with back office providers – the first one being Intelliflo.
In the past, some advisers wondered whether we’re a platform or a DFM. Who we are is exactly who our customers need us to be: one of the best, most capable and proven partners for growing advisory firms who want to build a unique investment proposition, to help both their clients and their own businesses thrive.
If you’d like to find out more about how Parmenion can support you, please get in touch.
This article is for financial professionals only. Any information contained within is of a general nature and should not be construed as a form of personal recommendation or financial advice. Nor is the information to be considered an offer or solicitation to deal in any financial instrument or to engage in any investment service or activity.
Parmenion accepts no duty of care or liability for loss arising from any person acting, or refraining from acting, as a result of any information contained within this article. All investment carries risk. The value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up and investors may get back less than they put in. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.