While the rapid development of vaccines against COVID‑19 is an extraordinary achievement, successfully vaccinating the global population presents many challenges. There has been much excitement at Chartered, and a little apprehension, as all our staff now have the opportunity to get vaccinated. Our President pleaded with the nation in his address on Sunday evening. If we all want our lives to return to some sense of normality, we all have a duty to get vaccinated. I know this topic can be controversial, but I am pleased to report that the take up has been exceptional as we all ensure that our work environment is safe and healthy. This ultimately benefits our colleagues, clients, our families, and the general population, and the benefits include not only possibly saving your life but someone else’s. When I heard mention of a 4th wave at the end of November, my heart sank, knowing the ongoing toll on human life, although I am comforted that we now can manage the severity of this wave by getting vaccinated

On a positive note, many of us are back in the office, and the corridors and meeting rooms are filled with the sounds we missed working from home. We have pencilled in an official return to the office day of 1 November, a date by which we should all be fully vaccinated. There has been much debate in business around the new hybrid work model, where there is a strong argument for allowing flexibility between working from home versus in the office. With the past 20 months to test this, and in line with global businesses, we have adopted this model where staff can enjoy more flexibility but will be in the office for a set number of hours per week. We are pleased to share that many more clients are visiting Chartered as their confidence grows following their vaccinations.

Other exciting news is that our Investment Committee has been working hard behind the scenes to refine and expand our investment offering. We introduced Morningstar to our business almost two years ago, and this partnership continues to grow along with that of Portfoliometrix. Outside of our unit trust investment strategy solutions, we have seen a growing need from select clients for a more bespoke and sophisticated offering focusing on local and global share portfolios. We have facilitated this through other providers for the past 14 years and are pleased to share that we have now brought this offering in-house under the Chartered Invest banner. We welcomed Robbie Goldsworthy to Chartered at the beginning of last year, and more recently, Glen Baker has joined us. Collectively they boast over 40 years of experience in the asset management industry with a significant tenure at HSBC, RMB Morgan Stanley, Cratos Asset Management and most recently Anchor Capital. They are already adding considerable value to Chartered, both on the due diligence process of providers, and in engaging with our clients on the more complex investment offerings.

Enjoy the following articles, and we look forward to seeing you back at Chartered in the weeks and months ahead.

Warm regards,
John