Fiera Capital managing director of UK distribution – intermediaries Chris Nicholas discusses where the firm is anticipating demand from wealth managers, the power of conversations over pitches, and a one-off success with mind-control
Where – and why – are you anticipating demand or fund flows from UK-based wealth managers and their clients over the next 12 months?
We are in a period of transition. Last year, investors were worried about increasingly narrow returns across big tech but that has now shifted. Today, trade tensions and uncertainty seem to be the key concern keeping investors up at night.
Although US markets have staged an impressive pullback since the first quarter, there is a real sense that tech-driven ‘US exceptionalism’ could be fading, spurring investors to re-evaluate their portfolio allocation. Are we diversified enough? Do we have enough fixed income? What about small and midcap exposure?
Few want to risk missing out on gains from the world’s largest economy if they reduce their US exposure, but investors are certainly being more discerning and looking to the smaller end of the market at the reasonably-priced small to mid-cap stocks as well as shifting away from passive exposure towards actively managed strategies.
We are also seeing this translate into increased demand for private markets and global markets equity products, which offer more balanced sector exposures, rather than being dominated by a handful of big US tech stocks. Our product suite, with its strength in US SMID-cap, emerging and frontier markets, and private strategies, is well-positioned for this shift.
The conversations are becoming more forward-thinking too. A client recently admitted that his long-term emerging markets bet had not played out but, in spite of this, he now sees renewed potential given the weak outlook for the US dollar and how expensive US equities are looking. It is very typical for us to hear that clients have had some emerging markets exposure because they felt obliged to – but now they are shifting gears and preparing to invest more in this type of product.
So clients are preparing and making sure that, if their asset allocation committee shifts gears, they have a growth fund, a value fund and a smallcap fund all pre-approved and ready to go. That pragmatism – and being ready to move quickly – is becoming increasingly typical in this market.
How are you planning to address and serve that interest?
There is always a temptation in our industry to chase the trend and build the product that fits the mood of the market. We have never been in the business of launching the next ‘shiny object’ just because the sentiment pendulum has swung. Rather than chasing trends, our focus is on understanding where clients are heading, how their thinking is shifting, what is keeping them up at night, and where they might need to act next. That starts with conversations, not pitches.
Right now, we are seeing more reflection than rotation. Wealth managers are reassessing the purpose of each portfolio component and asking themselves: Is it doing the job I need it to do? Do I have too much in what has been working, and not enough in what could work next?
There is a renewed appetite for strategies that have a clear purpose and a clearly articulated investment philosophy that aligns with a client’s long-term objectives. If someone is revisiting their US largecap exposure or preparing to lean more into EM or private markets, we want to be ready with solutions that fit – not just with a product, but with context, rationale and access to our portfolio managers.
Take our global equity strategy, for example. It has been underweight US mega-cap tech – not because we predicted a correction, but because our process focuses on durable, high-margin businesses we believe in over the long term. In our Atlas product, we own 29 stocks with an average gross profit margin of 65%, compared with 33% for the broader market. That is not just a number – it means that, even if these companies face external cost pressures, like tariffs, they have the financial flexibility to absorb them without eroding profitability. It is the kind of structural resilience we think investors will increasingly value as uncertainty persists.
Ultimately, what we are trying to do is keep clients equipped so when they are ready to make a move, they already know where we could fit in. We do not need to be front-and-centre all the time, but we do want to be front of mind when a CIO says, “We are reallocating capital… who can we trust to execute this well?”. We want to be part of that conversation.
Are you seeing a divergence in the demands of UK wealth managers versus, for example, their peers in Europe or on the institutional side in the UK?
I have spent my entire career covering the UK so I do not consider myself an expert on European trends – however, I do work very closely with my European colleagues so I will base my observations on our shared perspectives.
We see subtle differences in what clients emphasise, rather than completely different playbooks being used in different markets. In the UK, wealth managers are certainly interested in private markets, for example, but many are still figuring out the most practical way to access them, as structurally it is not always straightforward. Then, in Europe – particularly in the Nordics – there is arguably a stronger tilt toward passive investing, even in areas where market inefficiencies suggest an active approach could add value.
Furthermore, in parts of Europe, ESG integration is often seen as essential and quite prescriptive. In the UK, meanwhile, it is still important but there tends to be a more pragmatic lens – especially on the wealth side, where the focus is often on net outcomes rather than rigid exclusions.
That said, across both markets, investors are increasingly trying to understand the ‘why’ behind a strategy – looking to have a firm grasp of what role it plays in a diversified portfolio, how it responds in stressed environments and whether it aligns with their long-term goals. We do see more commonality than divergence on that front.
As a business, how do you define ‘alternative’ and ‘private’ assets and to what extent should asset managers be looking to service investor demand here?
Broadly speaking, we think of ‘private assets’ as anything that is not publicly listed and ‘alternatives’ as anything that does not sit neatly within a traditional equities and bonds framework – so that could include hedge funds, private credit, infrastructure, real assets and more.
Definitions vary across the industry, however, and that can confuse things. I have always liked the approach of defining ‘diversifying assets’ by their correlation to equities. If it falls below 0.5, it is an alternative – simple and effective.
The real challenge for managers is cutting through the jargon. Investors want to know what the asset does, how it behaves in different market conditions and whether it fits their portfolio objectives. The more transparent and illustrative the explanation, the better.
‘ESG is dead – long live ESG 2.0’ – your thoughts as a distributor, please?
I would not say ESG is dead – rather that it is maturing and evolving. A few years ago, it was front-and-centre in almost every client conversation. Today, performance is firmly back in the spotlight and ESG is being evaluated with sharper questions: what does it actually mean in this fund? Is it data-driven? Is it material to performance?
In that sense, ESG is moving from broad claims to specific, measurable integration. For us, it is not about just returns or just ESG – instead, we believe you can win by prioritising both. That is why ESG is very much integrated across both our public and private markets strategies, always with a focus on long-term value creation.
What drives your approach to client communication? And is there a case for focusing on attracting the ‘right’ type of client?
Communicating with clients and prospects is a delicate balancing act. It is all about timing, relevance and respecting their time. They do not need an update for the sake of an update – they need timely and useful information, whether that is a timely piece of research, a meaningful portfolio update, or a heads-up that something they have been watching is starting to move.
I am also a fan of just asking clients how they want to stay in touch. Everyone is different and some prefer regular check-ins while others only want to hear from you when there is something major.
As for the ‘right’ type of client, I find that the best relationships come from strong alignment – the clients who understand what we do and why we do it. If, for example, they buy our US SMID Cap fund because it is quality growth, they know we will not flip to value during a downturn. They respect the discipline of our process and appreciate there will be no surprises and no style drift.
In all the places I have worked, I have never seen portfolio managers who are so willing to get in front of clients to talk about their positioning as here. The clients we attract deeply value hearing this directly from a portfolio manager – particularly those that have skin in the game – so this access makes a huge difference and ultimately makes for better conversations and longer-term relationships.
Outside of work, what is the strangest thing you have ever seen or done?
As a teenager on a school ski trip to the Austrian Alps I had a fairly dramatic experience that ended with me waking up in an Innsbruck hospital, having absolutely no recollection of how I got there. I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say it involved some questionable teenage decision-making that become a cautionary tale for future students who took the trip.
My parents had saved up to finance my trip and were justifiably both livid with me so I spent the rest of the trip dreading arriving home to face the music. As we boarded the coach, I desperately wished that something would go wrong with it and delay our return.
You can imagine my surprise when we got as far as Belgium and the coach actually broke down! At the time, I was convinced I had developed the power of mind-control. I spent the next year trying to use this new ‘skill’ on my mock O-levels and my old Rover’s MOT. Sadly, it only ever worked that one time …
May we have two book recommendations, please – ideally, one with an investment connection?
Hands-down my favourite read is a book by the late Keith Floyd, self-styled ‘Gastronaut’ and the chef – although he himself preferred the term ‘cook’ – who arguably started the on-location cooking phenomenon.
He wrote several books to accompany his various TV series but his biography, Out of the Frying Pan, stands out for being incredibly frank in its retelling of how his life oscillated between bitter disappointments and incredibly good fortune. His journey from humble bistro cook to national TV icon makes for an incredible read. He was very honest about his own shortcomings and among his many regrets lamented never having a good financial adviser!
The best financial book would have to be an oldie but a goodie – Michael Lewis’ first book, Liar’s Poker. Although most of the events took place while I was still in short trousers, it is very well-written and hard to put down. A lot has changed on Wall Street since Lewis worked there in the 1980s, but it remains a great study of hubris, conflicts of interest and the conventions of the day.
Gazing into your crystal ball, what does the asset management sector look like 10 years from now?
I expect to see more consolidation in the sector, especially as operational and regulatory complexity rises. We will also see a generational shift in who is allocating capital and how. I think the next wave of advisers and allocators will be more diverse, more digital and more values-led.
I think we will also see a shake-out in active management. There is only so long you can underperform before people start asking tougher questions and active managers who have not delivered will face much tougher scrutiny.
On the flipside, this does open up the door for specialists, such as us. This is the kind of environment in which boutiques with specific expertise can thrive. We are not trying to manufacture every wrapper or style under the sun and we are focused on representing a handful of the very best in their respective fields.
If you are still building trust, solving real problems and staying true to your investment philosophy, you should still have a seat at the table in 10 years’ time. And that is the future we are working toward.
“There is a renewed appetite for strategies that have a clear purpose and a clearly articulated investment philosophy that aligns with a client’s long-term objectives.
