Organic growth
While Bordier cannot be bought, it can buy and grow – organically and through partnerships.
He states: "My overarching priority and focus is on delivering the best possible outcomes to those who place their trust in us – our existing clients.
"That means building a great team. I want to recruit and develop high-quality talent, for my colleagues to see Bordier as a brilliant place to work, and to ensure they enjoy the working environment we have created."
The business has grown over the past few months, as MacLeod states: "We have welcomed some new faces in recent months, adding further depth to the team, and, as we look to develop the business, expect to announce further hires in the weeks ahead."
With more than 50 new clients onboarded already this year, alongside "one of the largest outsourced institutional DFM mandates in the adviser universe", he says that "we are comfortable with our progress", citing enviable capital and liquidity ratios.
MacLeod adds: "We’ve got the right team, morale is good, and we’re in the right space, having faced many challenges since I joined more than 12 years ago."
The firm is also keen on partnerships and working with professionals such as financial advisers.
He explains: "We are looking to further develop our network of relationships with financial advisory firms, lawyers and accountants, as well as to build on our existing provider partnerships (of course), but we have deliberately refrained from recklessly targeting all-out expansion of our asset book.
"As a private firm, we don’t need to worry about impressing the financial analysts."
But how does Bordier sit within the UK market, and how well known is the company among advisers looking for a discretionary fund manager provider?
MacLeod admits: "We are not well known from a name awareness point of view.
"However, many of the professional community we look to work with are aware of our competencies."
Moreover, he says Bordier does not have ambitions to be well known, rather to partner with a small number of high-quality, strategic partners, which he describes as "those aligned with our core values, and with whom we can create a genuine partnership".
He attributes this flexible approach as a major factor in Bordier winning "three significant adviser firm mandates in recent times", at circa £200mn, £150mn and £110mn.
The £200mn mandate was awarded in 2021 by Richmond House; the other two, it is understood, are yet to be announced publicly.
