Speaker 0:
Hello and welcome to this Boutiques connect session today I'm joined by George Doll, Executive Director at Might and optimal. Welcome,

Speaker 1:
George. Hi, Chloe.

Speaker 0:
George. So perhaps you can take us through who Martin optimal are and what's been the journey since the film was launched.

Speaker 1:
Sure. So foremost, Martin optimal is a discretionary fund management business. Uh, we offer discretionary fund management services to independent financial advisors, Uh, throughout South Africa.

Speaker 1:
Uh, that said there are a lot of, uh, tied financial advisors who also make use of our discretionary fund management services.

Speaker 1:
Marin optimal has got a long history that extends over 20 years. Um, and it's a it's made up of a team of people with a tremendous amount of experience. And I think it was It was, uh, Mark Twain, I think could have said this. He said, uh, experience is the hardest teacher because you often get the test before you get the lesson. And, uh, I know from dealing with, uh, the people at Marin optimal. We've had the test and the lesson as well over over the years.

Speaker 1:
So Martin optimal, uh, as I said, uh started over 20 years ago. Uh, they made up of a number of companies, uh, where people with similar visions in terms of servicing the advisory market, Uh, for the benefit of the end client, uh, got together and, uh, merged the J V s and, uh, share swaps over over many years. Uh uh. To become the company that it is today.

Speaker 1:
We cut our teeth in 2002 when Rool Horn established a business called Bond Street Financial Services and Bond Street Financial Services was focused on delivering, uh, offshore investment strategies to advisors in South Africa. The landscape was huge. It had opened up to the international markets over 45,000 funds to choose from,

Speaker 1:
uh, and, uh so that's where we cut our teeth, was in that offshore space and ultimately going into the local space to where we are today as a business. So

Speaker 0:
then how does Martin optimal differentiate themselves from other d f MS in the local and global market?

Speaker 1:
Our differentiation comes very much around our personalised service. So we like to deliver a very personal service to our d f M partners, our advisory partners.

Speaker 1:
Um and we do that through various mechanisms. Uh, we also very flexible in our approach to to service in the d f M market. We recognise that Financial Advisor practises are very, very different. Their client bases are very different. And, uh, what we try and do is to be as flexible as possible to ensure that, uh, you know, not everyone fits into one box.

Speaker 1:
Uh, So we develop strategies for our different D f M partners that suits their advisory practise and gives this, um, them a meaningful centralised investment proposition that they can take to their to their clients.

Speaker 1:
Uh, in as part of that process as well. We deliver products. So as the market evolves and changes, there is a need always to introduce new products. Uh, and we have the capabilities and expertise to do that as well. George. So you

Speaker 0:
mentioned you provide the support to to advisors what are the means that the support is provided in structuring your solutions at my

Speaker 1:
ok, the one of the means that we that we utilise to give that support is through our marketing efforts. So we have extensive marketing efforts through various mediums, uh, that that assist our advisor in engaging with their clients we do this through fintech as well. So we've employed a number of fintech methodologies of, uh, assisting our advisors to, uh, make use of that marketing support. What we also have is we've got a A team with a lot of experience, longstanding team.

Speaker 1:
Uh, and we have divided up our service support to our our financial advisors, uh, through what we call lead, uh, relationship managers and lead portfolio managers. So every single one of our discretionary fund management clients, our advisory clients have got a lead relationship manager and a lead, uh, portfolio manager that they can engage with. And those two, uh, individuals in our business have an entire support team behind

Speaker 1:
to assist, uh, with servicing the financial advisor practise Jo. So what can

Speaker 0:
advisors gain then by choosing and optimal solutions for their clients portfolios?

Speaker 1:
Um, besides the fact that they gain peace of mind because, uh, they have the peace of mind that their investment solutions have been actively looked after and watched on a daily basis. Uh, on behalf of their clients,

Speaker 1:
uh, we also assist them with reporting. So there are two methodologies of reporting for their clients. So we do the reporting on on behalf of the Financial Advisor Practise uh, where we can give a consolidated client statement on a quarterly basis across multiple platforms, local and offshore at the rand value that that clients enjoy. Or we can do the reporting at a portfolio level for that particular, uh, advisory practise.

Speaker 1:
Uh, we also have an enormous amount of content that we make available, so content can vary from daily content. So if there is an event or or or or an issue in the market at any given time, we have means of communicating, uh, just to keep our advisor supporters updated as to what's going on with that particular issue on a weekly basis. We supply them with a summary of what's going on locally and offshore in a conclusion around our thoughts on market risk.

Speaker 1:
Uh, on a monthly basis, we produce monthly portfolio sheets, which is like a minimum disclosure documents that they can use in engaging with their clients. And then there's a whole lot of support articles, podcasts and videos that we also produce that assists our our advisor practises in in, uh, servicing their clients quite an

Speaker 0:
extensive support network. There very,

Speaker 1:
very extensive. Yes, there's a lot of work that goes into it.

Speaker 0:
So what are the benefits then, of being an independent e f m.

Speaker 1:
As an owner managed business? Um,

Speaker 1:
the main benefit of being AD f m for us is our our flexibility. Um, we are highly flexible in terms of the way that we can take our offering into the market and the way that we service our clients. So being flexible means that we can make decisions very quickly without going through any corporate red tape, uh, or or any process that that will delay delivering a service that is meaningful to our clients.

Speaker 0:
George, thank you very much for sharing your insights. We appreciate your

Speaker 1:
time. Absolute pleasure. Nice to have been here.