Why Capital Group Has No Time For 'big Name Stars'

"We need to raise the profile," admits Chris Miles, managing director of financial intermediaries UK at Capital Group, which has $1.9trn in assets under management and is now trying to make its name in the UK retail market.

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The US firm, which was established in the wake of the Great Depression and is running funds with strong, decades-long track records, has traditionally been a staple of the institutional world, but is somewhat of an unknown quantity in the UK retail market.

However, for the firm to grow and attract retail capital into the funds it plans to launch into the UK over the next three years, that is going to have to change.

Miles says: "We have always been low-key with the brand because we felt the end investor was not well served by us spending enormous amounts on ad campaigns, but that is changing."

The former Fidelity associate director of wealth manager sales explains while Capital Group has no intention of directly marketing to retail investors, the growth of social media, and the trend of end investors doing their own research on adviser recommendations, means the firm needs to place "more emphasis on how our brand comes across to individuals". 

Miles adds: "The responsibility for people's retirement is also increasingly falling on individuals. 

"The move from defined benefit to defined contribution in the UK, for example, can be a significant opportunity for individuals, but there is the need for education. The effort we put in to helping people achieve long-term goals has to be increased."

Launch plans

While Capital Group is not yet a household name in the UK, it has been in the country for 40 years with 350 of its 520 European staff now in London. 

The firm has perhaps made its biggest mark on the world of investing by founding the MSCI indices, through its Geneva-based entity Capital International - the 'CI' in the index brand - before selling its stake to Morgan Stanley in 1998.

With its roots in 1931 LA, Capital Group was built from the remnants of a Detroit firm that was founded before the Great Depression.

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It began launching mutual funds in Europe in the early 2000s as the firm changed from solely managing institutional accounts on the continent to targeting individual investors.

Its oldest fund, the Investment Company of America, which was launched in 1934, is now available in Europe via a Luxembourg-domiciled vehicle, as are Capital Group Global Equity and New Perspective - both strategies with multi-decade track records.