Adrian Whittingham and Ian Macoun, Pinnacle. Photo: Matt Fatches
Category: Distributor of the Year
Winner: Pinnacle Investment Management
Analyst: Justin Tay
Zenith says …
Taking out this category for the first time, Pinnacle Investment Management’s distribution capabilities are recognised by Zenith for its suite of high-quality investment boutiques across a range of asset classes. Information provision, access to investment professionals, effective education and communication of manager strategies and ongoing updates remain of the highest quality. Finally, a well-resourced and experienced sales team with strong knowledge of the product suite combines to make Pinnacle Investment Management a deserving winner of the category.
Interview
Adrian Whittingham
Director, distribution
Pinnacle Investment Management
We started on a journey 10 years ago – that’s when Pinnacle started as a business. We started with the philosophy of only bringing the highest quality managers to the market. “Quality” can be a fairly loose term, but it was very much centred on bringing managers that were differentiated, had great track records and really wanted to make a difference for investors. Embarking on that journey, we now are here 10 years later with seven different investment firms that we have equity in. And the real reason why our client and Zenith have supported us in winning Distributor of the Year is we’ve held true to that philosophy of only bringing the best. That’s been shown in performance, and in market acceptance.
Clients we work with understand our business model and they know whenever we start a new manager we’re only as strong as our weakest firm. If we start a new firm it’s not if it succeeds; if we start a new firm it’s going to succeed, and we are confident that they are outstanding. I think advisers, researchers, and asset consultants understand that we have put a lot of work into identifying the most talented fund managers in the market.
We spend a lot of time on education with researchers and advisers. If you look at the surveys, there are a lot of good managers in the market that have good numbers, and I think where we make it a little bit different is we break it down and because we’ve launched innovative strategies we’ve been able to educate, and not just sell a product. That’s one of the things I’ve been most pleased with about my team – we can put our hand on our heart and know that we have helped with the message and communication with advisers to their clients.
We’re very blessed to work in this fantastic industry. I’m sure no one takes it for granted, and we’re just going to continue to put the client and the investor first, and if we all do that then I think as an industry we’ll continue to move forward and prosper.
