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Topics: Keith Carby| openwork| Caerus
Independent, whole-of-market advice will be the preserve of the better-off once rules set out in the retail distribution review (RDR) are implemented, according to industry veteran Keith Carby.
Carby, the former chief executive officer of Openwork now settling into his latest venture as head of Caerus Wealth, says he is very clear on where he will position his business in the build-up to 2012 and beyond.
According to Carby, a restricted offering will be better-placed to cater for the mass market.
“I’m not bad-mouthing independence,” he said. “There is a real place for it, but the problem it has is whether or not it can be delivered for the mid-market consumer.
"Whole-of-market advice will increasingly be for the better-off. Through all the research I have done, and based on my own experiences, the British consumer simply will not pay the fees required.”
Carby has extensive experience to call upon. His first foray into financial services came at Hambro Life in 1981, where he eventually spent 11 years before leaving as its managing director.
He later took another director role at J Rothschild Assurance (now St James’s Place) before holding senior positions at Inter-Alliance and Tenet. Carby was then named chief executive of Openwork in 2007, a position he held for two years.
He plans to spend longer behind the wheel of his latest venture, Caerus Wealth, an investment advisory business launched last year.
Its focus is on distributing a range of Caerus-branded funds, run by a number of well-known management groups such as Saracen and Evercore, which are offered alongside its portfolio management proposition.
“We acknowledge that we are fairly new to this, but we have the great fortune to partner with some absolutely fabulous names,” he said.
“The investment piece needs more strengthening than the distribution piece. We wrote £5m of business in March and the average [client investment] so far has been £150,000. Not many UK distribution businesses can say that.
“Our future depends on how well we can build up our investment proposition and how skilled our advisers can become in selling them.”
Carby is critical of the industry’s failure to innovate over the years, constantly referring to developments in the US which he said has left the UK trailing in its wake.
“We have been held down by legacy thinking,” he said. “Not just in technology, but right across the board. The quality of marketing is so far behind all other commercial sectors. If you look at the extent to which other businesses understand their consumer, it’s in a different league.”
After almost 30 years in the financial services industry, Carby said his enthusiasm for his work is as strong as ever.
“I like doing things and achieving things,” he said. “The other thing I love to be able to do is to say ‘yes’ to people.
“Most of us want to do useful things with our time. I like financial services and I particularly like the advisory part.”
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keith carby
As the complete antithesis of an IFA, Keith Carby can't actually give advice can he? He's been one of the absolute worst influencers on the financial services industry masquerading as a professional "adviser" with"clients" when he's always been a salesman with customers, apparently. His comments should be chucked in the bin by the authorities and consumers alike, along with those of Mark Weinberg and all the number-crunching, get-rich-quick salesmen whove pulled the wool over the eyes of the ignorant. Please leave the industry if you are going to pretend to be an adviser Mr Carby.
Posted by: michael bates
Foxed!
Sorry Harry, I don't know that tale!
Posted by: Geoff Pollock
Geoff Pollock (and others?)
http://aesopfables.com/cgi/aesop1.cgi?2&TheFoxWhoHadLostHisTail
Posted by: Harry Katz
Here's what you would've won!
I echo Harry's comments but would add that rrather than the fox,this character reminds me more of a bulldog. This is because he bears more than a passing resemblance to Jim Bowen who used to front a pointless darts based TV game, when basically nobody ever won but potentially they could have. I'm told another of his catch-phrases was 'how about a bit of bully'. Enough said!
Posted by: Duncan Carter
Carborundum
Sadly I think Mr Carby is spot on. There is no way Joe Public will pay realistic fees. Advice will be the preserve of the prosperous few genuine clients. The same individuals who will pay for tax advice,legal advice and appreciate it's value. Now Joe Public can get "free advice" from the government (or us actually as we're paying for it)why would they see the need to pay fees? During the heady days of the 80's it seemed anybody but everybody could afford a personal trainer, home help, lifestyle consultant and of course a commission based IFA but those days are long gone.Perhaps commission will be re-branded as fees and collected/paid by the provider and the change will occur in name only. If not,and Joe Public has to write a cheque up front, I, for one, won't be holding my breath.
Posted by: English Bill
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Well he would say that wouldn't he!
When you see a sentence like that you know precisely that is exactly what the person is going to do. Anyway Keith why break the habit of a lifetime? Allied Crowbar, then St James Placebo what else would one expect. Basically you handle the mass market with all its attendant risks. You won’t get work from Solicitors or Accountants and even from the Regulators own mouth – “Independence is the Pinnacle”, so by your own admission you are aiming for second division. But then of course by being entirely independent you have less scope for wringing out every penny of the sales process in which you will be engaged. Vertical integration can’t take place under Independence and there is no reason to recommend high cost products, just because they offer better margins to the host. Remember the Aesop’s fable of the fox without a tail?
Posted by: Harry Katz