Mercer, the consulting and investment services company, has launched a new range of services aimed at the European wealth management industry, spanning private banks, family offices and insurance firms, WealthBriefing can exclusively report.

The firm – which earlier this year launched a business focused on wealth management firms in the Asian region – is making the move at a time when the wealth industry is coping with the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Mercer said firms will be able to supplement their in-house research with Mercer’s institutional investment manager research and investment knowledge, drawing on Mercer’s roster of more than 70 full-time professional researchers. It recently announced the formation of four asset class-based "boutiques" covering equities, bonds, property and alternatives.

“The destruction in wealth that the credit crisis has wrought on private client portfolios has been extremely painful for all but the most risk averse investors. The players in the industry who are most likely to succeed post the financial crisis will re-focus their resources on core strengths and seek expert advice or indeed outsource functions where they do not have a competitive advantage,” said  Michael Curtin, head of Mercer’s European wealth management business.

“As a global investment advisory firm, Mercer is well positioned to understand and advise on the challenges wealth management firms face in building competitive and lasting investment solutions for the increasing demands of their clients. We see a major opportunity to benefit clients through bringing ‘institutional-quality’ research and consulting to the retail world,” Mr Curtin said.

Mercer’s client base has traditionally been dominated by large institutional investors, such as corporate pension plans, endowments and foundations. However, in recent years Mercer has seen an increased appetite from financial services firms for its services.

“A number of private banks and retail multi-manager platforms in the UK and Europe already utilise our manager research to find best-in-class products. Others have asked Mercer to help with asset allocation and portfolio construction techniques,” said Tom Geraghty, head of Mercer’s investment consulting business in EMEA.

“We believe wealth managers can benefit from our global reach coupled with our independent and long-standing research experience which we apply to identifying the strategies and products most likely to outperform into the future,” he added. 

Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, the US-listed group.