Veteran Smith & Williamson partner Patrick Smiley has managed investments on behalf of charities, trusts and private individuals for more than 30 years and still retains some of the clients he started out with. ‘We don’t chop and change clients,’ he tells Spear’s. ‘We hope that the relationships grow – when you look after a client for 30 years, you’re looking after them at various stages in their life as their needs and requirements and attitudes to investments change.’ It’s an approach that the firm has been careful to foster over its storied history. It continues to evolve, with £20.8 billion of funds under management and advice. It’s able to pool together the knowledge and expertise of more than 1,400 people. It’s been a strong year for S&W, but whether it’s the situation in Venezuela or the dragging US/ China trade war, Smiley has been paying attention to the broader picture: ‘Despite the many clouds over the market, US interest rate policy remains the drumbeat that the market is marching to.’ He’s also finding that clients are willing to take a little more risk than normal. ‘The returns from low-risk assets are so poor that at best, in a portfolio, they lower volatility rather than giving any meaningful return,’ he explains.
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