Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management Review

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management Review – that will be the topic of today’s article.

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Introduction:

Canaccord Genuity – ‘Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.’ is a company that provides international, full-service investment banking services and financial services. They are widely known for the services specialized in wealth management, investment banking, private banking as well as a brokerage in capital markets. They are also famous for being the biggest independent investment dealer in Canada. 

The firm primarily focuses on progressive companies, operating in 10 countries worldwide along with having the ability to list companies on 10 stock exchanges. 

Canaccord Genuity was founded in the year ‘1950’ by a person called ‘Peter Brown’ and has its headquarters located in Vancouver, Canada. It also has offices located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Ireland, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Australia and Barbados.

Canaccord Genuity delivers ‘Mergers and Acquisitions’, ‘Corporate Finance’, ‘Restructuring’, ‘Debt Advisory’ along with ‘Strategic Advice for corporate, government and private equity clients (all over the world)’. 

The company’s activities include many types of industries such as ‘Aerospace & Defense’, ‘Agriculture’, ‘Clean Technology & Sustainable Resources’, ‘Energy’, ‘Consumer & Retail Products’, ‘Financial’, ‘Healthcare & Life Science’, ‘Metals & Mining’, ‘Real Estate’, ‘Hospitality’, ‘Technology’, ‘Transportation’, ‘Industrials’ and ‘Private Equity’.

As per the statistics of 2019,

The revenue of Canaccord Genuity is C$ 1.19 billion.

The overall income/net income of Canaccord Genuity is C$ 71 million.

The assets under management of Canaccord Genuity are worth C$ 65.7 billion.

The total assets of Canaccord Genuity are worth C$ 4.75 billion.

The total equity of Canaccord Genuity is worth C$ 876 million.

History – The company was founded in the year 1950. It started as a western Canadian venture capital firm with its name as ‘Hemsworth, Turton & Co.,’.

In the year 2004, Canaccord Capital became public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) price at that time was $10.25 and the Initial Purchase Offering was $70 million.

Later in 2006, Canaccord Capital took over ‘Adams, Harkens & Hills Financial Group Inc.,’ which was a Boston-based dealer. This US-based division of Canaccord was renamed as ‘Canaccord Adams’. In the year 2009, Canaccord Capital changed its name to Canaccord Financial.

‘Genuity Capital Markets’, which at that time was an independent advisory and restructuring service provider in Canada was acquired by Canaccord Financial in the year 2010. Canaccord Financial is said to have bought Genuity Capital markets for $286 million combined in cash and shares. During that time Genuity Capital Markets used to have 135 employees working in offices located in the United States as well as Canada.

‘Collin Stewart hawkpoint’, which was an independent financial advisory firm that specializes in services related to research, trading and wealth management operations, was acquired by Canaccord Financial in the year 2011 for $400 million. They also acquired ‘Eden Financial’ in the year 2012, which was a London-based wealth management business targeting private client investment management.

The name of Canaccord Financial was changed to Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management in the year 2013. Canaccord also procured Hargreave Hale Ltd. Completely in September 2017.

Businesses – The two major services provided by Canaccord Genuity are as follows. The first one is ‘Private Client Services’, which primarily focuses on serving wealthy individuals. The second one is ‘Global Capital Markets’, which serves corporate as well as institutional clients. Let’s have a deeper observation of each of these wings individually.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management – The Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management wing has $31.3 billion in assets under management in Canada, Australia, the UK & Europe. In April 2016, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management declared a strategic partnership with ‘Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM)’.

Canaccord Genuity Global Capital Markets – Canaccord Genuity Global Capital Markets consist of services i.e., ‘Investment Banking – Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Restructuring, Debt Advisory, Strategic Advice’, ‘Research’, ‘Sales and Trading’, and ‘Fixed Income’.

Detailed Information – Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management is known to manage the wealth of their clients with a confident investment process, which is proven to be rigorous, powerful and trustworthy. 

Their intermediary team has support from 12 investment committees, 65 in-house researchers as well as analysts along with industry-leading tools such as Quest, Canaccord Genuity’s proprietary equity valuation system, etc.

Flexible investment structures can be customized in such a way that they meet with all the requirements of the clients based on their risk tolerance.

Model-based portfolios as well as bespoke portfolios can be accessed including risk profiles of various levels, everything within their in-house platform. Model-based services can also be acquired with the help of third-party platforms too.

Portfolios are designed for clients by attaining details from their personal financial advisors such as risk tolerance, financial goals, etc. The investment managers also make an evaluation of the suitability of the portfolio to the clients.

Investment Process – The major goal of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management is to satisfy all the financial needs of the client and obtaining profits on their investments depending on their level of risk. The investment process mainly consists of in-depth research, regular monitoring and interaction of a number of investment committees.

• Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management offers a wide range of assets such as Securities, Equities, Funds, ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), Investment Trusts, Alternatives, Bonds and Cash.

• Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management does not offer tax advice to its clients. hence, they work along with professionals who take care of the client’s tax, accounting, or legal issues. By doing so, they are able to make financial decisions in such a way that they won’t be bearing losses for the investors.

• In order to create a wide range of high-quality investment opportunities, the in-house experts at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management select investments from open markets.

• Specialized Investment Committees at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management make use of their expertise in order to attain the best positioning for all their clients’ portfolios.

• Risk is calculated with the help of an in-house portfolio risk management calculator and portfolios are built from approved lists.

• Active management and monitoring of investments are implemented in order to increase the returns and reduce the losses.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management also provides specialized services for:

1. Organizations related to armed forces such as regimental monies and military charities.

2. US citizens residing in the United Kingdom.

3. Business owners and executives who are about to leave or sell a successful enterprise.

Building a successful partnership – while working with Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, professional advisers, or people making the investment on behalf of their clients are supported by a dedicated team of professionals having an in-depth understanding of the advisor’s or client’s needs. The lead manager will tend to look after the relationship of advisers with the firm and supervise the client’s investment management.

During the beginning of the person’s relation with the firm, the professionals at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management spend some time getting to about that respective person. The person themselves can be able to choose how they want their relationship with the firm to be. They can be able to select from the following methods to work together:

1. If the person is a financial adviser, they can take over the responsibility of the evaluation of risk as well as the continual suitability of the clients’ investments.

2. If a person does not prefer to be an advisor or is not qualified to be an advisor, the firm takes over the whole responsibility.

3. There is another case in which the person is able to work along with the firm in a joint ‘Hybrid’ working relationship.

Whatever the preferred method of working with the firm is chosen by the individual, the firm makes sure that the person as well as the firm both have enough time and resources while ensuring mutual consent. The professional, who is a financial advisor for the client, is able to deliver optimum results to the clients along with the support from the strength and expertise acquired with the help of partnership.

Informing the individual up to date – Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management investment managers communicate regularly with the advisors or the clients themselves in a way that is comfortable for them. They also work together with the individuals so that protection and increase of clients’ assets is focused. 

Investment managers are always available and constantly provide their knowledge & insights and inform the individuals upon the availability of suitable investment opportunities. If an advisor wishes to arrange a meeting with the client, the investment managers are always available for it.

• State-of-the-art investment management, trading and reporting system in order to provide efficient support while administering the portfolios.

• Knowledge about various matters related to investments can be obtained with the help of exclusive professional seminars.

• In order to provide support, the investors also receive specialized in-house content such as information on market updates, macro-economic perspectives and articles on wealth management.

For the Individual Financial Advisors, Trustees, or People responsible for the clients’ investment:

• Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management provides secure client estimates, along with market commentary.

• They also provide detailed tax reporting to the individuals along with their clients.

• Individuals and their clients can be able to access their accounts 24/7 in order to keep track of their investments, transactions and valuations.

Managed Portfolio Service:

The Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management offers a wide range of model portfolios that are designed in such a way that the investor’s investment objectives and risk profile are matched. With the help of these portfolios, they are able to select from the entire marketplace in order to find the right fund at the right time in the right place.

The MPS portfolios at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management are further classified based on their dynamic asset allocation based on the changes that occur in the market conditions and economic outlook. This results in the weighting of alternative investments among the models while providing a negative similarity with the markets of bonds and equities.

The managed portfolio service of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management gives access to a wide range of risk-related discretionary portfolios for investors who do not want a tailored portfolio (for the investors willing to make an investment of at least £ 100,000). 

MPS managers make use of in-depth, global research, which is specifically exposed to institutional investors.

Benefits: 

1. Providing stable and risk-adjusted returns across the risk range in order to meet with the client’s investment objectives.

2. Complete access to ideology and research of global investments.

3. Upon acquiring the parameters from the investors, the investment managers at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management are able to take risks and find the suitable assets agreed upon by the investors.

4. A well-designed, powerful and disciplined investment process, which is managed by a dedicated team available to the investor 24/7 and can be contacted with the help of a phone call or an email.

Features:

1. Effective asset allocation across a range of assets, which are unconstrained by a benchmark.

2. Being able to access and make investments in funds using global expertise from Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, while being governed by a centralized investment process.

3. Access to institutional as well as Super Institutional share classes.

4. Rated 5 stars from Defaqto (an independent rating agency) over and over again.

Risks:

1. Portfolios that contain investments made across geographical borders may be exposed to geographical risks and currency rate fluctuations.

2. The major thing that needs to be taken into consideration is that the capital is at risk. This means the investments can either bring profits to the investor or bring losses, sometimes the investor might not even be able to get back the original amount that has been invested by them.

3. Most people have a misconception that past performance is a reliable indicator of future results. This is not at all true. Even if past performance can be considered as a factor while creating a technical analysis of an asset, it might not guarantee the returns.

4. Most assets might not guarantee returns on the investments made.

MPS Model Portfolio range – Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management offers a range of 7 multimanager MPS portfolios, with the help of which, investments can be made in different collectives and ETFs. 

They also offer 5 MPS portfolios, with the help of which, investments can be made in equities, bonds and alternatives depending on the requirements of the client.

Fixed Interest, Cash Plus, Cautious Balanced, Income, Balanced, Growth and Aggressive growth are the 7 multimanager MPS portfolios out of which Fixed Interest and Cash Plus are not included in the direct MPS model portfolios.

Investment Process with the help of MPS model portfolios – The primary objective of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management’s MPS model portfolios is to satisfy the needs of the client and achieving the most compatible investment opportunities based on the risk tolerance of the investor.

The most essential part of providing the services is the prestigious centralized investment process that provides guidance for the investment-related ideology of the portfolio managers.

• The investment process is built, based on a framework of global asset allocation.

• The professionals have an attentive approach to developing investments.

• Assets are selected from the open market by in-house professionals to provide clients with high-quality investment opportunities.

• Portfolios are built efficiently by selecting investments from the approved lists of suitable investments.

The presence among other platforms – The MPS portfolios of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management can also be accessed with the help of industry-wide platforms such as ‘Ascentric’, ‘AXA Wealth’, ‘Fusion’, ‘Nucleus’, ‘Novia’, ‘Transact’, etc.

The Managed Portfolio Service of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management also includes the Inheritance Tax Portfolio Service and GPS Optimized Portfolio Service. 

• Inheritance Portfolio Service – This is a portfolio model that has a tax-efficient model so that the investors might be able to reduce the Inheritance Tax. This model also offers growth potential for boosting legacies.
  IHT model portfolios invest in a wide range of prominent and highly profitable companies that have been selected from the Alternative Investment Market.
  This is considered to be an actively managed portfolio service and therefore if an investor decides that an underlying investment is no longer beneficial to them, they can be able to sell that asset and reinvest in the company of their choice instead of starting over the two-year period all over again.
• GPS Optimized Portfolio Service – This portfolio service is designed in such a way, the investors being financial advisors to some other clients, can be able to protect their clients by capping the volatility level in their portfolios.
  The annual cap is set, based on 5 different types of risk categories and GPS optimized portfolios are able to manage it with the help of efficient tools including the MSI (Market Stress Indicator). In times of market stress, this portfolio helps in re-allocating the assets in order to reduce the excessive volatility.

Other Investment Services – Other major investment-related services offered at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management include Bespoke Portfolio Management, Stockbroking Services and Offshore Services.

• Bespoke Discretionary Portfolio Management – Bespoke Portfolio is used to refer to the portfolios that are tailored in a specific way, required by the investor. With the help of this service, the investment managers would create and manage a portfolio on behalf of the investor, without having to require permission from the client each and every time they have to make a change.
  Bespoke Discretionary Portfolios invest in asset classes such as Stocks, Bonds, Third-party Investment Funds, ETFs and Other Alternative Investment Classes. Along with the Sterling, the Bespoke portfolio services are also offered in Euros and US Dollars. 

• Stockbroking Services – The trading team has a faster response along with excellent service. Investors can be able to choose from advisory broking service or an execution-only service.
  Clients can be able to obtain access to traditional stockbroking services from the trading and dealing team if they have an active interest in the financial markets and are willing to buy or sell assets.
  They can also opt for the advisory services at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, upon which the client will be provided with high-quality investment ideas (which depend on the recommendations made by their in-house stock selection committee).

• Offshore Services – Investors (being financial advisors) can be able to provide investment-related solutions to their clients that reside offshore. These solutions generally consist of custody services as well as portfolio management. 

Fees and Charges – The typical charges and fees levied upon the customers at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management are based on the services required by them. The basic charges for managed services with the help of an intermediary are as follows:

An advisor might charge somewhere around 1% – 1.5% max and there might also be wrapper charges applicable which are estimated to be around 1%.

Up to the £ 1 million of the overall portfolio value, the annual charges are 0.75%. After exceeding that value, the annual management fees are reduced to 0.50%.

Dealing charges at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management are £ 30 per each transaction.

Overall Review:

People having money more than £ 250,000 to invest can be able to make use of the Discretionary Portfolio Management offered at Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management. People with less than £ 250,000 can make an investment in Canaccord’s unitized discretionary portfolio. The people who have around £ 50,000 to invest can make use of the MPS (Managed Portfolio Service) offered at Canaccord.

Advantages:

• It is a strong brand that has received many awards and good ratings from many individual/independent reviewers.
• It relies on the traditional approach to beat the performance of the markets.
• Known to be one of the safest and secure wealth management service providers.

Disadvantages:

• Ways to invest are known to be expensive.
• Academically questionable active methodology.
• Advisors are paid retrocession commission which often leads to disputes.

Bottom Line:

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management is known to be one of the best-in-class wealth management service providers. They are very famous and known to obtain more profits for the individuals on their investments. However, the services offered by them are more beneficial when accessed with the help of a financial advisor as they often work along with the advisors of the clients rather than dealing with the clients themselves.

They have also received many awards which proves that they are best at what they do. Many customer reviews on different websites showed a positive response towards them showing that they are capable of ensuring profitable investment opportunities to their clients.

If you are an investor that needs the help of an expert financial advisor on order to make use of the services offered by Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management Services or if you are an investor with money to invest but have a lower amount of knowledge related to this category, you can be able to avail the professional financial services offered by us.

Further Reading: Investors Trust Access Portfolio Review 2022 examines strategic wealth management solutions, reflecting insights found in the Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management Review.