Carrick Investment Committee: Giving You Peace of Mind

Carrick is in the business of looking after people’s wealth – helping clients achieve the best possible investment outcomes and realising their financial life goals. To this end, trust and integrity are key.

Carrick partners with some of the biggest and most respected investment houses in the world to ensure your portfolios are being managed to ensure the best outcome. The Carrick Investment Committee was created to ensure the transparency of these investment houses, to protect the firm’s integrity and ensure investment decisions and partnerships are in line with the highest possible regulatory and ethical standards.

More than ever, in the current challenging financial landscape, investors want reassurance. “You want to know that you have chosen the right investments, that your portfolio is in good hands and, importantly, that your financial advisor or discretionary fund manager (DFM) is committed to the profitability and stability of your investment,” says Anthony Palmer, Group Commercial Director at Carrick and Chairman of the Carrick Investment Committee. “We are approached by investment houses from across the globe and they are all put through a rigorous vetting process before being considered.”

What does the Carrick Investment Committee do?

In a nutshell, the Committee interrogates the investment houses to ensure they meet the extremely high standards that Carrick has set. In addition to Palmer as Chairman, the Committee has another five members, all from the Carrick Group of companies: Rashay Makan, Director of Operations; Anton Schoeman, Western Cape General Manager; Scott Bell, Gauteng General Manager; Paul Mitchell, Kwa-Zulu Natal General Manager; and Paul de Waal, Senior Wealth Specialist.

The Committee meets once a month to review the relative and absolute performance of approved funds and fund managers and to ensure they are in line with their respective risk mandates. The committees also review diligence findings and approve new managers. Part of the Committee’s job is also to monitor and sit on sub investment committees with their chosen discretionary fund managers. 

“While our criteria are not cast in stone, we believe that this vetting and interrogation process is vital to our claim to have integrity in the way we do business.”

Areas of interrogation include: 

• Experience, depth, and breadth of management team 
• Performance and reputation in the market 
• Length of time in business 
• The value of their assets under management 
• Fees charged 
• Investment style, philosophy, and process 
• Internal controls and risk management systems 

“Essentially, what we do is an exercise in complete transparency for all concerned,” explains Palmer. “Since the process is so rigorous, we are able to give our clients the well-researched information they need to build a safe, profitable investment portfolio together with their advisor or use the outsourced services of a Discretionary Fund Manager”.