Stanlib is the leading provider of retail international investment products in SA. It has the widest range of rand-denominated international funds, as well as the largest portfolio of offshore R750 000 allowance funds.
When the asset management and unit trust businesses of Liberty and Standard Bank were combined in 2002, Stanlib inherited a complex range of international products.
The cornerstone of the Stanlib range is its special relationship with Fidelity, which it inherited from Standard Bank. Stanlib Wealth Management CEO Ian van Schoor says that when asset swaps were introduced in 1995, the then SCMB Asset Management had several options: one was to buy or build its own international competence, as Old Mutual and Investec have done, or to set up a joint venture.
"We knew it would take time to build up our own expertise overseas and we knew there would be considerable benefits from working with an international partner with an established brand."
Fidelity was chosen from a short list of four which was drawn up by an independent management consulting firm.
It is the largest independent asset manager in the world and undoubtedly the world's most powerful investment brand, having had more than its fair share of star managers, such as Peter Lynch and Anthony Bolton.
It was a good fit with Standard Bank as it provided a broad range of products suitable for the bank's customer base.
Over the 10 years of the relationship, Fidelity has broadened even further from a predominantly growth-style house to a broad multistyle house.
Liberty opted to go down a multi-manager route.
The Liberty Institutional funds (and the Stanlib Institutional funds today) are run by Stanlib International, a division of Stanlib Asset Management, on a multimanager basis. Investment Manager Selection (IMS) serves as a consultant to Stanlib.
IMS, based in London, was founded by Richard Timberlake, previously MD of Fidelity International, and Peter O' Connor, the former head of GT Management (Asia).
When Stanlib was created, the international businesses were disjointed. Before October 2005, Zietsman says there were no easily identifiable points of differentiation in the sales channels for their single and multimanager proposition.
The Stanlib institutional and retail multimanager strategies were not aligned - Tacoma, Washington-based multimanager Frank Russell was the retail partner and IMS the institutional, and so retail investors were provided with a different multimanager proposition.
There were also separate reporting lines for the retail offshore and the rand-denominated (or asset swap) product ranges.
Then, 18 months ago all the retail international products were consolidated into the International Unit under Kim Zietsman.
Her task was to create a comprehensive yet simple range of international investments for all investors, covering the offshore and asset swap funds as well as the multimanager and single manager ranges. In addition to providing appropriate product, Stanlib also intended to deliver the best range at the right price.
"We needed to simplify our product proposition and develop a single Stanlib offshore identity, creating a one-stop offshore investment shop."
None of the existing relationships was taken for granted. There was a comprehensive review of products, prices, managers, mandates and performance and a thorough examination of the competitor ranges. Numerous interviews were conducted with investment managers, including a short list of multimanagers.
Following the extensive review, Stanlib decided that it was important to give investors access to both single manager and multimanager strategies.
In the single manager space, Fidelity remains Stanlib's key strategic partner across the product suite: it has the strongest brand and widest range in the world.
The Stanlib Offshore Unit Trusts range, domiciled in Jersey and previously known as Standard Bank Offshore Unit Trusts, are feeder fund portfolios.
This is with the exception of the managed fund portfolios, which are fund of funds portfolios.
These portfolios invest exclusively in the corresponding Fidelity Fund portfolios or constituent parts thereof.
In August 2005, a number of funds were closed, including the Germany, Consumer Industries, Financial Services, Health Care and Industrial funds.
The remaining offshore range consists of four currency funds, four bond funds, 13 equity funds and three managed funds.
In the multimanager space, after an extensive due diligence which included interviews with leading international multimanagers such as Russell and SEI, Stanlib elected to utilise internal resources who as a team in conjunction with IMS had built the excellent Liberty Ermitage investment track record (long only).
Stanlib International remains responsible for Stanlib's institutional offshore money but now assumes ultimate responsibility for managing all the multi-manager portfolios.
Following the appointment of Stanlib International, the Stanlib Multimanager International Fund of Funds was moved from Frank Russell to Stanlib International.
The Stanlib Global, Global Brands and Multimanager Worldwide Fund of Funds were then merged into the Stanlib Multimanager International suite.
The investors in Stanlib Global Fund who bought Capital International's style at least have the compensation of knowing that Capital International is a core manager in the Multimanager product suite.
The flagship fund will remain the Stanlib International Equity Fund of Funds, but will now be complemented by the recently restructured Stanlib Multimanager International Fund of Funds.
