Jadwa Investment, a leading regional investment management and advisory firm, has set a new milestone for its investment advisory practice by crossing SR30 billion in assets under advisement (AUA) in 2020. This represents a significant increase over the firm's AUA of SR13.4 billion at year end 2019. The introduction of investment advisory to Jadwa's longstanding investment management services has also effectively doubled the firm's total client assets, which currently stand at SR 60 billion. Investment advisory is a nascent field with strong growth potential in Saudi Arabia and the GCC. In a market dominated by investment managers, institutional clients and non-profit endowments often do not have proper access to independent advice on investing across asset classes and geographies. Institutional investment advisors can therefore offer clients additional depth and breadth of expertise, independent advice, and cost-effective access to best-in-class managers made possible by the scale achieved through the aggregate volume of AUA across clients. This is particularly the case for Shariah-compliant investors, who are currently unable to access many of the world's best managers without scale. Jadwa's investment advisory practice advises clients on developing customized investment strategies that fit their unique risk, return, and liquidity preferences, and on implementing these investment strategies through best-in-class managers across the full spectrum of local and international asset classes. This includes detailed cashflow forecasting, iterative asset allocation modeling, manager selection and due diligence, operational set-up, monitoring and reporting, and continuous strategic and tactical portfolio reviews. Jadwa's advisory services are distinguished by its local presence, global reach to world-class managers, Shariah expertise, and strict independence from the firm's investment management practices. In fact, as a matter of policy, the investment advisory team is restricted from recommending the firm's in-house investment products to their clients. Jadwa's growth in AUA has also been accompanied with a wider service offering for its advisory clients in 2020. The firm has introduced a multi-manager fiduciary management platform that offers immediate and efficient access to leading managers across primary asset classes. Today, the platform includes the Jadwa Developed Markets Equity Fund, Jadwa Emerging Markets Equity Fund, and Jadwa International Sukuk Fund. Tariq Al-Sudairy, managing director and CEO of Jadwa Investment, commented: "We are pleased to see the fruit of our efforts to build out investment advisory as an important part of our comprehensive investment offering to clients. "To ensure the objectivity and independence of our advice, we follow a strict policy of never recommending our in-house products to our advisory clients. "We believe there is significant and growing need for professional investment advice in the Kingdom, and I am grateful to our clients for their continued trust in Jadwa as an investment advisory partner of choice." — SG
