Mercer has suffered the loss of several key departures in Asia. Here global head of wealth management Cara Williams explains how the firm plans to rebuild in the region.

Global investment consultancy Mercer may have suffered a blow with the loss of several key wealth management team members in Asia, but if anyone thinks this firm is giving up on the region, they could not be more mistaken.

That is the message from Cara Williams, global head of the wealth management business at Mercer, when she spoke to sister publication WealthBriefing this week.

“As far as the departures from Asia are concerned, it is not a sign of a changed commitment to that market. On the contrary,” she said, “We do have clients there [in Asia] and we will continue to serve them. It is a critical market for us.”

“There are a lot of potential candidates; we want to be sure we get perfect candidates. We will be taking our time,” she said.

A few weeks ago, the third and final member of management consultant Mercer’s Singapore-based wealth management team, left the firm. Iris Kao, principal consultant on the team, departed for a private bank. She used to be principal for Asean, reporting to Hansi Mehrotra, Asia-Pacific head of wealth management consulting. But in turn, Mehrotra left in December to set up a wealth management venture in her homeland India. Her exit followed that of analyst Desmond Lee, who left Mercer last August.

Williams said Mercer not only intends to find new recruits to drive the Asia business forward, but added that existing clients in Asia have continued to be served while changes have been under way.

The commitment to expand the business is global, she said. Last October, the firm named Beverley Sharp as global head of retail research within its wealth management business, which is a London-based role. 

In January this year, Mercer appointed a new global head of wealth management and manager research as part of an organisational shake-up. Jeff Schutes – formerly head of consulting in the US – was installed in the newly-created role.Williams leads wealth management and reports to Schutes.

As reported elsewhere by WealthBriefingAsia, Mercer has made a number of manager changes at its Asia business.

Background

Williams has been getting to grips with her role since taking up the job in July last year. She has been with Mercer for some time; she joined in 2005 as global chief operating officer for its investment consulting business with responsibility for managing its day-to-day operations, budgets and business strategy. Before that, she worked in business development and client management roles at Merrill Lynch and CDC Investment Management Corp; she started her financial career as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch in New York.

A total of 10 consultants and other staff devoted exclusively to wealth management work at Mercer, but they draw on research (global staff of more than 110) and support from the broader 1,200 staff across the Mercer business as a whole, she said.

“Wealth management for us is a business-to-business model. We have been pulling together an offering which we already offer in the institutional space,” said Williams. 

The firm has wealth management activity in EMEA, the US and Canada,  Asia and Australia/New Zealand.

“We have a strong business pipeline; there is a lot of change and turmoil in the market. For us it is going well and we are pleased with business, which is why we see that our offering is resonating,” Williams continued.

There is a lot that wealth managers can learn from the pension funds industry, she said, as the latter has had to contend for years with problems such as wafer-thin bond yields, new ideas on asset allocation, and global turmoil.

“There is no reason why retail markets shouldn’t benefit from the lessons learned on the institutional side,” she said. It is one of the main reasons we can easily translate our message.”

To outsource, or not to outsource?

“The main theme of it all is to outsource or in-source?” she said. “A lot of this is being driven by regulation. Regulations around the world are forcing businesses to change their models. Everyone is reviewing it.” 

For example, the pressure on banking laws in Switzerland, and the associated industry, is driving some firms in the country to seek Mercer’s support and advice to better compete in what is now a global arena for them, she said. “They need to expand their knowledge base as well as their product offerings.” 

Most clients use Mercer on a retainer basis, and the services they obtain range from research  and operational dues diligence on funds, various software databases and tools including an advisor portal for the client-facing side of wealth management, risk-profiling tools, and  implemented fund solutions . Mercer can also conduct bespoke projects for a client, such as sorting out a basket of funds.  All services offered regardless of the delivery mechanism, tools, advice or solutions are founded on the same intellectual capital generated out of manager or strategic research.

Williams highlights what the firm can do for a client.

“We had one client where the entire investment team left, and within two weeks the decision was made to outsource all the fund management to us, including back-office functions. Mercer runs the operation for them. The client was able to save its business and in the end operate at more efficient levels,”  she said, declining to name it for reasons of client confidentiality.