Managing wealth effectively in an environment of complex choices requires an investment partner who can ask the right questions and provide thoughtful solutions. Canaccord’s 439 Investment Advisors (IAs) are skilled professionals who take a consultative approach to their relationships with clients.
Our focus on providing individual investors and their families with ideas that count drove assets under administration (AUA) to a record $15 billion in fiscal 2007 – a 31% CAGR over the past five years. AUA per IA, or average book size, was more than $34 million, up 2.8% over fiscal 2006 year end. Effective asset gathering, stronger equity markets and managed products helped boost AUA, as did the addition of new IAs and their clients during fiscal 2007.
We take a great deal of pride in the flexible business environment we have created for IAs and their clients. While an increasing number of our brokers focus on wealth management, many Canaccord IAs are also actively involved in both managing investments and providing advice to early- and growth-stage companies seeking growth capital. These financing transactions, which typically fall “below the radar” of investment banks, are not only vital to the growth of companies wishing to expand their operations, but also an important source of revenue for Private Client Services.
In addition to award winning research ideas, Canaccord offers IAs and their clients a comprehensive suite of managed investment products. During fiscal 2007, we added five investment managers to our Alliance Program – Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel, Bissett Investment Management, Barometer Capital and AGF International Advisors – bringing the number of external managers to nine. Our investment managers are carefully selected to match the profile of Canaccord clients, with a deliberate mix of large institutional managers and exclusive relationships with smaller boutique managers.
We also experienced solid asset growth during the year in our Independence Accounts, managed by our Chief Portfolio Strategist, Nick Majendie. In addition, Private Client Services added marketing and training support for products such as Individual Pension Plans in order to provide IAs and their clients with more options to accumulate wealth for retirement. These initiatives, as well as stronger markets, helped boost assets under management (AUM) to $652 million. Over the past five years, Canaccord’s AUM has grown at a 58% compound annual rate.
Canaccord offers IAs and their clients a comprehensive suite of managed investment products. Our external investment managers are carefully selected to match the profile of Canaccord clients, with a deliberate mix of large institutional managers and exclusive relationships with smaller boutique managers.
In the annual Investment Executive Brokerage Report Card, in which advisors rate their firms’ operational capabilities, Canaccord consistently maintains a top three ranking among the banks and national independent firms in Canada. In the 2007 Report Card, our IAs rated Canaccord especially high on freedom to make objective product choices as well as on our delivery on promises, strategic focus and corporate culture. Also highly rated were Canaccord’s products and support for high net worth clients, quality of equity research and participation in new issues.