The London-headquartered investment and financial planning group is offering clients physical gold exposure amid “growing market distortions”.

Tilney Bestinvest has introduced an exposure to physical gold in its £1 billion ($1.5 billion) Multi-Asset Portfolio fund range.

The MAP fund range is managed by the firm's chief investment officer, Gareth Lewis, who also chairs the group's asset allocation committee. The new position in the precious metal comes as Tilney Bestinvest reduces equity exposure within the range.

“We have been keen observers of the growing market distortions created by global monetary policy. With central banks losing control of the macroeconomic environment we believe policies such as QE will become discredited,” said Lewis.

The group said it had chosen to access the commodity via a physical gold ETC, namely the low-cost and liquid investment option of ETFS Physical Gold GBP ETC (PHGP) from ETF Securities.

“The risk of policy error is growing as authorities across the developed economies struggle to stimulate demand. We have been tactically underweight both equities and high yield since the summer. The move to include gold completes our phased move to de-risk our portfolios,” Lewis said.

Tilney Bestinvest looks after more than £9 billion of client assets.