Square Mile Q&A - Mark James

SQUARE MILE Q&A with Mark James Client Relationships Director, Square Mile

Having carried out an extensive due diligence process, we identified Square Mile as our new investment research partner. Kunle caught up with Mark James, Director at Square Mile, for a five question interview.

Is it true that my knowledge of Dallas was the reason for us first meeting? You were at a conference I believe, a few years ago and met Alex Farlow who we call Dusty Farlow, the character in Dallas - you spotted that connection. I guess that was the start of this relationship!

Tell us and our readers more about Square Mile. We've been going for six and a half years now. A few of us and our Managing Director were born out of a business named Old Broad Street Research, which was founded way back in the late 90s. Five of us started the business. Today we are a team of 38.

Tell us more about how Square Mile analyse funds. We could choose funds based on past performance. The past however has gone, what really counts is the future. We believe in not trying to pick the best funds, but the funds that are most likely to achieve their objective. The first thing we say to a Fund Manager is put away your fact sheets and prospectuses and tell us what you are trying to achieve in this fund. If a Fund Manager is not doing what they should be doing and we can’t understand the performance, we won’t recommend the fund.

Our job purely is to keep on top of these areas whilst looking for new funds to fill any gaps in the market.

Part of the mandate with SK is to have a cap on annual fund charges. Tell us more about that. Cost is important. There have been many surveys produced that show that high costs eat into your pot. Equally important though, is value for money. What you don't want to do is to cut costs so much, that the client then gets a substandard product. So what we've agreed with you is a very happy medium. On what I would call a hybrid portfolio, we've agreed a maximum cap on costs (0.55%). I think it’s important for clients to be able to understand that their costs will not go over a certain amount, but we've agreed a level where we can still add significant value through fund choice.

How do you see Square Mile and SK working together? We see ourselves as an extended part of your team. We will work alongside SK to help create and continually monitor a range of model portfolios. We will form part of your Investment Committee and attend your quarterly meetings. We will support you in any way we can so you can deliver the best outcomes for your clients. You will also benefit from access to our Academy of Funds, which provides a 1st class fund research platform and you can speak directly to any of our investment professionals at any time. We will also provide you with regular updates and outlooks on the financial markets. We are looking forward to this working relationship.

Likewise Mark!