Besides the launch of the RAM business, the group announced a new appointment. The firm is a consolidator of IFAs in the UK.

Radiant Financial Group, a UK consolidator of IFA firms, has launched its investment management offering. The new service is called Radiant Asset Management.

The new offering is more focused on capital preservation than is the typically the case with most discretionary fund managers, Radiant said in a statement this week. 

The announcement came after Radiant Financial Group, or RAM, reached £1.3 billion ($1.58 billion) in assets under advice when it completed the acquisition of three IFA firms in November. The group was founded in 2000.

The ascent of such firms – US-listed Focus Financial and Succession Wealth are other examples – highlights a trend of IFA aggregation and wealth industry consolidation over the past two decades. Rising compliance costs, technology spending and client demands have forced a need for economies of scale, pooling of costs and brand development.

No benchmark “obsession”
“The current obsession with meeting benchmarks means many DFMs are ‘content’ for their funds to make big losses if everyone else is making those losses. Not surprisingly clients don’t see it that way!” Minesh Gajjar, managing director and RAM’s chief investment officer, said.

“Clients want their investments to steadily grow but the feedback I’ve got throughout my two decades of working with IFAs is customers feel that capital preservation has been ignored. Most customers are happy to trade off some of the growth potential in their investments in order to avoid big losses. The average DFM ignores that,” Gajjar continued. 

Gajjar, who joined Radiant last year and launched RAM in 2022, was previously global head of discretionary and managed solutions, wealth management, at HSBC. Before that he was director of fund research and investment strategy at Coutts. 

Separately, Alain Kerneis has been appointed the independent chair of RAM’s investment oversight committee. He used to be co-head of investments for BlackRock Client Portfolio Solutions. He has also held senior roles at T Bailey Fund Services and Goldman Sachs.

As part of the RAM offering, the firm has formed a strategic partnership with global investment group SEI Investments, who help create a range of model portfolios for Radiant Asset Management. RAM offers seven model portfolios separated into two distinct ranges, "Protect" and "Grow". 

Its three “Protect” portfolios are designed to protect against losses while working towards a steady level of growth. It’s four “Grow” portfolios are designed to steadily grow assets and ultimately deliver better risk-adjusted returns.

As well as global stocks and government bonds, Radiant’s portfolios also include other assets to spread risks, such as a collection of equity factor portfolios; inflation-sensitive assets including inflation-linked bonds, and commodities, and liquid alternative strategies.