As well as researching where to invest your money in order to get the best return, we believe it’s also important to spend time understanding who will be managing it on your behalf. That’s why we’ve taken the time to explain our history and expertise, and provide you with an overview of how we put together our investment strategy.
Please remember the value of investments and any income can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.
Our history of looking after your financial requirements
In 2016, we celebrated our 175th birthday. Our head office is in Birmingham, where we were originally founded to help people overcome the financial problems brought on by the first industrial revolution.
Today, we provide financial advice and solutions for the specific needs of doctors, dentists, teachers and lawyers. We specialise in understanding these professions (and their associated working environments, related legislation and regulations). This means we can provide you with the right services and products for your needs.
We want to reassure you that we are in a strong position to weather volatility in the investment markets with £7.2bn* of assets under management in 2018. As a mutual, with no shareholders to consider, we can focus on making the right long-term decisions on behalf of our members. In recent times we have been through several periods of market weakness and have proven procedures in place to protect our financial strength and your investments.
* Group assets under management includes the assets of the pension scheme of £0.5bn and WUTM assets under management of £0.1bn.
Meet our investment team
Our Investments Team consists of dedicated in-house Fund Managers who are supported in their work by a team of Investment Analysts responsible for researching specific market sectors and trends.
The team has an overarching objective: to help you achieve your long-term financial goals.
Robert Vaudry
Chief Investment Officer
Robert joined Wesleyan in 2017 to oversee its in-house Investments Team, which manages more than £7 billion of funds.
During Robert's time at Wesleyan, the Investments Team has won a number of awards including 'Active Manager of the Year' (2017) and 'Investment Strategy of the Year' (2018) at the Insurance Asset Management Awards. Most recently, Robert was named 'Chief Investment Officer of the Year' by the Insurance Asset Risk Awards (2019).
He previously managed two multi-award winning global funds as a partner of Quotidian Investments and prior to that worked in global roles for HSBC and Morgan Stanley. Robert has an MBA from London Business School.
Martin Lawrence
Martin joined Wesleyan in 1995 as an Investment Analyst and subsequently qualified as an Associate of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society of the UK.
He has worked in investments for over 20 years and has been a Fund Manager since 2001. He manages funds, including the With Profits Fund, and is also responsible for Wesleyan's team of Analysts and other Fund Managers.
Paul Burton
Paul has been the Fund Manager of the Low Risk Funds since the launch in January 2012. He has also managed the assets of the Wesleyan Staff Pension Scheme since 1998, and the Society's Non Profit fund since 2012.
He joined Wesleyan in 1990, and qualified as an actuary in 1998. Prior to this, Paul worked as an Investment Analyst for five years.
Marc O'Sullivan
Marc has been a Fund Manager since 2012, managing investments across a number of asset
classes. Marc joined Wesleyan as an Investment Analyst in 2003, having graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Economics. Marc has been a CFA charterholder since 2008.
James Hubbard
James joined Wesleyan as an Investment Analyst in January 2011. After graduating with an MA in Economics and Business from the University of Manchester, he initially worked for a Corporate Bank in London. James is a CFA charterholder and has been a Fund Manager since 2016.
Lucas Howarth
Lucas joined Wesleyan as an Investment Analyst in 2007 having attained a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham.
Lucas has been a CFA charterholder since 2011, and became a Fund Manager in 2016. Lucas is responsible for selecting and monitoring the external funds held within the life and pensions product range.
Joe Curlett
Joe is responsible for all aspects of the Society's commercial property investment holdings, maintaining a portfolio located throughout the whole of the UK with support from a team of Asset and Property Managers.
Joe is a Chartered Surveyor by profession and holds a degree in Estate Management. He previously worked as an Asset Manager for a UK property company and for several property consultants, providing advice to landlords.
How we invest your money
At Wesleyan, we are long-term investors and, by industry standards, our portfolio turnover is considered to be low.
As a mutual, we have no shareholders and we are owned by our customers, meaning we are able to put your best interests at the heart of all we do - ahead of the need to maximise short-term profit. We do this by:
- Following a 'buy and hold' strategy across all asset classes, looking for long-term value instead of short-term gains. This means we often benefit from lower costs of dealing, which we can pass on to our customers through better returns
- We have a long-held preference for equities - considered to be the most volatile asset class. However, while market fluctuations may have some short-term impact on their value, it's our belief that over the longer term equities are able to withstand the ups and downs of changes in the market
- Our approach to investing can be described as 'contra-cyclical', which means we target sectors and stocks that are out of favour with other investors, but we feel are likely to provide long-term value over time
- We maintain diverse portfolios across our fund range to protect our customers' funds from volatility over time, reduce risk and to produce a return on our investments. We believe income is important for consistent investment returns, and regular income re-invested over time will provide a consistent and steady return on investments for our customers
Find out more about investing and our Fund Managers at Wesleyan by reading
our Guide to Investing.
Your local Wesleyan Financial Services ConsultantNow that you understand more about us and our approach to managing investments, why not
arrange a face to face meeting with one of our Financial ConsultantsThe Financial Consultant who contacts you will be local to your area, and will have specialist training in understanding the financial considerations specific to your occupation.