ebi Spotlight: The Investment Team

It’s been an interesting few weeks at ebi to say the least. We recently reached £4.7 billion in assets under management (AUM), and for the first time our projections show us reaching £5 billion by the end of 2025. These ‘visible’ milestones, the ones you can see approaching for weeks or months in advance, feel fantastic when you finally get there, but they don’t provide that moment of sudden joy you experience when the company’s name is read out at an industry awards ceremony. Lucky for us at ebi, we got to experience both this month. During September ebi won two such awards: firstly, the Money Marketing Awards’ Best Outsourced Investment Manager and then a week later the Investment Week Sustainable Investment Awards’ Best Sustainable/ESG Investment Portfolio award. Both of these awards have been celebrated internally as huge company-wide achievements, and we’re collectively very proud of the work that went in to earning them.

Given ebi’s recent success, we thought it would be a good opportunity to highlight the work done by some of our colleagues who aren’t as visible to investors, but whose work has been crucial for both the growth in AUM and the industry recognition – the investment team. The investment team are the department responsible for the creation and continuous improvement of ebi’s product range; every new portfolio solution and every change to the existing lineup begins with an idea from the investment team.

The performance of the investment team is a direct consequence of its culture of continued professional development, a culture which ebi has fostered since its inception fifteen years ago. ebi provides five days to all employees per annum specifically to dedicate towards continued professional development, and it’s an opportunity the investment team in particular take full advantage of. Amongst the team of six, three have passed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams, and two are full charter holders. Moreover, the team cumulatively boast the following further qualifications

★ CFA UK Investment Management Certificate x 4

★ CFA UK Certificate in Impact Investing x 3

★ CFA UK Certificate in Climate and Investing x 3

★ CFA Sustainable Investing Certificate x 3

★ Chartered Financial Planner x 1

★ Fellow of the Personal Finance Society x 1

★ CFA Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement x 1

★ CISI Investment Advice Diploma x 1

★ Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) certificate x 1

The team’s theoretical knowledge is complemented by the wealth of real-world experience of its leaders: ebi’s CEO/CIO Craig Burgess and Head of Investment Jonathan Griffiths, CFA. who boast four decades of experience in the industry between them. Portfolio manager Josh Clarke, CFA, CIPM, brings another seven years of experience, linking his expertise in portfolio management with his data analysis and technical skills. All in all, we think it’s fair to say that the team punch above their weight in terms of high professional standards!

When clients get in touch with ebi, their touchpoint is almost always a member of the business development or client relations team (which makes sense!) so it’s no surprise that the work of the investment team is less familiar to people outside the company. By and large, the investment team are a behind-the-scenes team, processing and interpreting quantitative data so that other teams can provide common-sense solutions for clients. Some of their day-to-day work includes:

✔ Conducting ongoing monitoring of the performance of the underlying funds in ebi’s product lineup

✔ Scouring the landscape of appropriate solutions for inclusion in ebi’s product line-up, and in the event of no such solution existing collaborating with partners to produce an appropriate solution

✔ Providing ongoing market commentary and recording live webinars for ebi’s members

✔ Working with ebi’s other departments to provide investment expertise, such that the digital content and information systems provided to ebi’s members are market leading

✔ Generating ad-hoc research and insight in response to specific investor queries

✔ Providing data to third parties such as Morningstar, Defaqto, eValue and Synaptic

With the exciting inclusion of the four Amundi developed world factor funds into the Vantage Earth, Earth UK and World suites over the coming months (and the creation of ebi’s two new Funds of Funds), the investment team have been working hard for the last few months to ensure that the structure and holdings of the funds represent the best possible value for investors. More broadly, the team is constantly adapting to the ever-increasing rate of growth and responsibilities of ebi and has recently brought on a data analyst and an investment oversight analyst to effectively manage its growing requirements. We can’t wait to see how they’ll adapt and grow over the next twelve months, and we’re sure that their work will continue to contribute heavily towards yet more professional recognition. These are indeed exciting times.

For financial professionals only.

Disclaimer

We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage which is incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of reading any of our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk.

Our publications do not offer investment advice and nothing in them should be construed as investment advice. Our publications provide information and education for financial advisers who have the relevant expertise to make investment decisions without advice and is not intended for individual investors.

The information we publish has been obtained from or is based on sources that we believe to be accurate and complete. Where the information consists of pricing or performance data, the data contained therein has been obtained from company reports, financial reporting services, periodicals, and other sources believed reliable. Although reasonable care has been taken, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information we publish. Any opinions that we publish may be wrong and may change at any time. You should always carry out your own independent verification of facts and data before making any investment decisions.

The price of shares and investments and the income derived from them can go down as well as up, and investors may not get back the amount they invested.

Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance.

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