Best investment platform for a small charity that wants to move to passive investing?

[Coventry2526]

I am involved with a small-ish charity that has about £10m of investment assets.

Until now the investments have been managed by active managers with a discretionary mandate selected by the trustees about a decade ago. The resulting asset allocation is reasonable but the fees are high - between 70-100 bps p.a. looking across the portfolio.

We now have experienced finance professionals among the trustees, we're comfortable with the CC14 issues and we want to switch towards passive investing / index funds because we want low cost and clear control on asset allocation.

Our initial research is taking us towards Blackrock as a platform provider who can help us here, but our pros and cons list for them does have several cons - they limit what can be purchased to Blackrock / iShares unit trusts only, their website has limited functionality and we will have to use the post (!) to make trades.

Was wondering if anyone here has been through anything similar and can help / point to resources. Thanks!

[DrFfybes]

HL offer Charities Investment Accounts.

Quilter (formerly Old Mutual) have reasonable fees, especialy for larger portfolios, but like many I think they only wirk via an advisor or Investment Manager. Quilter offer a wide range of funds, didn't look in detail but Vanguard are on their list.

Although with £10M perhaps a fixed fee platform like II might be better

Paul

[Alaric]

HL offer Charities Investment Accounts.

Isn't that the key? Find a provider that offers Charity Accounts and a wide range of investments. I suppose the charity then has to appoint someone competent to make and execute the investment decisions. Are they allowed to do this in house, or is an external regulated "professional" always required?

[Coventry2526]

I suppose the charity then has to appoint someone competent to make and execute the investment decisions. Are they allowed to do this in house, or is an external regulated "professional" always required?

That is the bit I do think I understand or at least I have read the Charity Commission guidance, which is published in a paper called CC14. Simply put Trustees need to consider whether they have adequate financial skill to override the default supposition which is, understandably, that charity trustees should receive professional advice when investing.

We don't feel like we need that for making investment decisions as we have various financial professionals who are trustees, but we can't find a pre-trodden course for setting up the investment accounts etc. It isn't as simple as just setting up a Vanguard account which is what we would do as a retail investor in this situation.

Thank you all for the replies so far, much appreciated.

[csearle]

I am involved with a small-ish charity ...

Welcome to The Lemon Fool by the way.

Chris

[GeoffF100]

It isn't as simple as just setting up a Vanguard account which is what we would do as a retail investor in this situation.

It might be an idea to talk to Vanguard. In days gone by, I held investments directly with Vanguard UK. They did not have a retail platform at that time. My investments were held directly on the register. I bought and sold over the phone, and there were no fees. (Trading is a dirty word with Vanguard.) That may still be possible. There would be a high minimum investment, but I expect that £10 million would be enough. Here are some numbers you could try:

https://www.vanguard.co.uk/professional ... fessionals

[Coventry2526]

That's a helpful thought re Vanguard, thanks.

I'm surprised this isn't a well-trodden path, but it seems to be virgin territory. Charities don't seem to have taken to passive investing in the same way as retail investors so far as I can tell.

[Howard]

AJ Bell may be worth contacting. Their website suggests that they offer accounts for charities.

Their SIPP execution only website is very good. Low charges and access to a wide range of investments.

"Investment accounts can be set up for joint, designated and bare trusts, as well as charities and limited companies."

regards

Howard

https://www.ajbellplatinum.co.uk/aj-bel ... 0available.