This month, Los Angeles, CA-based Signature Investment Advisors, an investment platform for high net worth clients, smashed through the $1 billion managed assets mark three years after launching.

SIA was developed by Signator Investors and Signature Estate and Investment Advisors, of which it is a wholly-owned subsidiary. Of note, the platform has played a “significant role” in the 76 per cent growth of Signator’s fee-based business since January 2013, said Christopher Maryanopolis, president of Signator.

Signature Investment Advisors not only provides investment services to advisors but has also become a partner, offering guidance to advisors in the areas of practice management and business development.

Family Wealth Report asked the firm for a little more insight on the growth and how this might relate to industry trends.

What was the rationale behind the development of Signature Investment Advisors and how did you build it?

Andrew Lin, managing director at Signature Investment Advisors:

Signature Investment Advisors was developed by our parent company Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, a fee-based registered investment advisory firm. The team at SEIA has spent 15 years building a firm that now, with its affiliates, manages over $5 billion in client assets as of May 15.

Throughout this journey, SEIA has built out a scalable infrastructure designed to support advisory practices with resources, knowledge and experience. As we have built this organization, we have walked in advisors' shoes; we know the challenges they face, and we understand how to deliver sophisticated solutions to the affluent investor. These experiences led to the genesis of SIA. We felt that our investment advisory services designed for high net worth clients could distinguish itself on Signator’s fee-based platform by providing a higher level of resources and access to complement the existing offerings on the broker-dealer’s advisory platform.

Quite simply what factors would you say have driven asset growth on the platform?

Lin:

SIA has been committed to focusing on services tailored for HNW clients and our core competencies. There are many great solutions out there, and we do not believe in being “everything to everyone.” Instead, we believe that our energy is best spent on our core offerings.

Who uses the platform and how, if at all, has its roster of investment opportunities changed to reflect industry/market trends?

Maryanopolis:

Signator Investors' investment advisor representatives offer the program to their high net worth clients. The high net worth segment has highly appreciated legacy stock, company executives with corporate stock, or more complex investing needs. The trend in the high net worth segment is customization, not one size fits all, and that is reflected in this offering.

Could you please outline the differences between its discretionary and non-discretionary offerings?

Lin:

Both SIA’s discretionary and non-discretionary offerings are designed to be globally diversified, core investment portfolios based on a client’s risk tolerance and time horizon. They can be customized for the client based on more specific client investment goals such as capital preservation, income or growth. Both offer open architecture design, potentially using individual stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds and other investment vehicles.

In the case of Signature Allocation Series, the discretionary platform, the client imposes reasonable restrictions prior to the management of the account though the investment policy statement, in regards to the particular securities to be invested. The investment committee then trades assets and rebalances the portfolio, based on those restrictions without any further notifications. In Signature Elite, the non-discretionary platform, SIA monitors and manages the investment portfolio in a similar fashion, but recommended changes are reviewed with the client before being executed.

Could you please expand on how SIA helps advisors with their practice management and business development needs?

Lin:

Advisors’ primary contact with SIA is with SIA’s relationship management team. The relationship management team not only helps as a guide in case design and business development but also acts a central point of contact for day-to-day questions. This team is well-versed in industry trends, investment and planning knowledge, service capabilities and working with end-clients.

They provide the added benefit of being a centralized source of knowledge collected from hundreds of cases experienced through Signator’s advisors. All of this information is delivered through conversations with advisors to educate, challenge and promote the evolution of their wealth management practices. 

SIA has played a “significant role” in the 76 per cent growth of Signator’s fee-based business since January 2013 - what can we infer from this in terms of industry trends?

Maryanopolis:

Signator has experienced more revenue growth in the investment side of the business. Within investments, more assets are being invested in fee-based accounts as opposed to commission-based accounts. The same is true for the industry.

The main reason this trend is occurring is because it allows the advisor and the client to be in a fiduciary relationship with their interests aligned. Also, as stated before, the high net worth segment demands more of the high-touch service and customization that SIA provides and the advisors had less success attracting those clients without the offering.

Any future plans for growth or AuM targets?

Lin:

We do not currently have any specific growth targets other than continuing to grow in a responsible manner by focusing on maintaining the high quality of services and attention for advisors and their clients.