National independent advice firm Chase de Vere will launch a discretionary investment portfolio management service in the first half of 2018.
The advice firm has said it is currently preparing an application for permission from the Financial Conduct Authority and looking to recruit an "experienced investment professional" to become its head of portfolio management.
Until now Chase de Vere has only provided investment advice services but its new discretionary service will sit alongside this so the firm's advisers can choose the most appropriate option for each of their clients.
Stephen Kavanagh, chief executive of Chase de Vere, said: "We have seen increasing demand from our clients for a discretionary investment service and more of our competitors are offering them.
"We need to continually adapt and improve our services to meet the demands of our clients and I see this launch as a natural evolution and enhancement of our advice and investment proposition. We will be able to offer our clients a discretionary or advisory investment choice depending on their requirements.
"We are well placed to offer this service as we have over 200 independent financial advisers across the UK and billions of pounds of assets under advice.
"However, we want to ensure that we also provide a market-leading investment service and so, while we have many technical and investment experts at Chase de Vere, we are actively looking for an experienced investment professional to run our discretionary services."
Chase de Vere said it had not yet finalised the charges for this service, which will only be available to its advisers, but it said it would ensure they were competitive compared with other discretionary investment services.
The head of portfolio management will be based in Chase de Vere's Bath office and will be supported by the company's research and technical advice services team, which is also based in Bath and which currently conducts the fund and investment research for Chase de Vere advisers.
damian.fantato@ft.com
