The inaugural virtual PAM Awards presentation evening turned out to be a triumph for Swiss-owned institutions with Lombard Odier and Sarasin & Partners accounting for four of the 13 awards contested, or nearly a third of the total.
It also turned out to be an evening of near misses for Cazenove Capital, the main wealth management arm of London-based Schroders. Cazenove made the finalists’ shortlist in six categories but failed to augment its collection of PAM Awards garnered over many years.
Sarasin, a serial winner since the PAM Awards’ inception two decades ago, trumped the competition for the Investment Performance Defensive Portfolios and Client Service Quality - High Net Worth (HNW) Awards.
It also featured in the finalists’ lists in the Investment Performance Growth Portfolios, Sustainable Investment Solution and Client Service Ultra-High Net Worth (UHNW) categories.
Lombard Odier, a more recent entrant, swept the board in the Sustainable Investment Solution and Positive Impact categories as well as making the list of finalists for the Innovation Award.
Cazenove’s near misses came in the Sustainable Investment Solution, Client Service Quality HNW, Client Service Quality UHNW, Positive Impact, Total Wealth Planning (HNW) and Total Wealth Solutions (UHNW) categories.
The other nine PAM Awards went to nine different firms.
Some, such as Capital Generation Partners (Client Service Quality (UHNW)), Sanlam Private Investments (Investment Performance High Growth Portfolios) and Veritas Investment Management (Investment Performance Growth Portfolios) repeated the success they enjoyed in these categories in 2019.
HSBC Global Private Banking (Total Wealth Solutions UHNW), Insignis Asset Management (Digital Solutions) OMBA Advisory and Investments (Emerging Manager) and Quartet Capital Partners (Investment Performance Cautious Portfolios) won PAM Awards for the first time.
Indeed, HSBC and Quartet, the Surrey-based firm founded by Berry Asset Management alumnus Colin McInnes, won on the first occasion they entered the long-running PAM Awards programme.
Aberdeen Standard Capital and James Hambro & Partners, both of whom have won PAM Awards on previous occasions, augmented their trophy cabinets by winning the Innovation and Total Wealth Planning (HNW) categories respectively.
The PAM Judging Panel also made a Lifetime Achievement Award to Michael Maslinski, following his decision to retire from Stonehage Fleming earlier in 2020.
Scenes from the 2019 ceremony - the 2020 event took place virtually
“Not for the first time the latest list of winners and finalists in the constantly evolving PAM Awards is rather eclectic, embracing firms from across the size and ownership spectra,” said James Anderson, the founder of the PAM Awards and non-voting chairman of the PAM Judging Panel.
“This is symptomatic of both the heterogeneous nature of the UK and Channel Islands wealth management sector and its underlying health, even during the dramatic year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It also illustrates, yet again, that size and provenance are not critical in determining whether or not an entrant wins a PAM Award or makes the list of finalists.
“On behalf of the judges I would like to congratulate all those firms that either won an award or made the shortlist of finalists - and encourage all those firms that have yet done so to enter next year.
“One of the distinguishing features of the PAM Awards is that we provide feedback on the entries received. So, if nothing else, entrants can gain the benefit of expert third party critique on both their service and investment management propositions, as well as the manner and success with which these are being implemented.”
Turning to the list of finalists and winners a number of features stand out.
The first is Sanlam Private Wealth’s achievement in making the finalists’ lists in three out of four investment performance categories as well as winning the High Growth category for the third year in succession.
St Helier, Jersey-based Melville Douglas, the portfolio management arm of Standard Bank Group, achieved something similar by also making the shortlist in three of the investment management performance categories.
Stratford Upon Avon-based Albert E Sharp, the reincarnation of a famous corporate and private client stockbroker lost to a 1990s merger, featured in the list of investment performance finalists as well as in the Emerging Manager category.
And although big firms tend to dominate the UHNW categories they don’t quite have it their own way as the presence of Capital Generation Partners and Wren Investments demonstrates.
PAM Insight, the organiser of the PAM Awards, would like to thank the sponsors and supporters of the 2020 PAM Awards: BNY Mellon Pershing, Lyxor ETFs, Platform Securities, ARC, thewealthnet, Louis Roederer, fundeye, eprivateclient, Fortnum & Mason, Gallery Different, Lockets, McCann Bespoke, LexisNexis, Wealth Dynamix and MSCI.
