Incapital expands into independent advisers' market, hires Societe Generale executive to lead effort

By Emma Trincal

New York, Aug. 31 - Incapital LLC, the distributor of fixed-income securities and structured notes, is expanding its marketing reach into the registered investment advisers' niche market and has hired Jason Wilson from Societe Generale to lead the effort.

Wilson, who joined in July as executive director, told Prospect News that he leads a team of four or five salespeople solely dedicated to this initiative. At the same time, the group taps into the resources of the firm, including trading and marketing support, he said.

Prior to joining Incapital, Wilson was director, global markets division - cross asset solutions, at Societe Generale and executive director, equity and commodities structured products, at CIBC World Markets.

Wilson is based in Boca Raton, Fla.

Strategic initiatives

The push is not limited to the sales of structured investments, Wilson explained, as the group pursues a "consultative approach" that take into account all the fixed-income needs of independent advisers.

"My mandate is to develop new strategic initiatives in order to provide RIAs with complete financial services solutions," he said. "In the process, we educate them and we find out what their other fixed-income needs may be," he said.

Newly independent

Traditionally, Incapital has dealt mostly with other broker-dealers and issuers.

"We're a broker-dealer. We focus on dealer desks relationships," Wilson said.

But the firm has found a new niche with wirehouse brokers turned fee-based advisers and lacking the resources they used to enjoy with big firms.

"We're trying to reach those former Merrill or Morgan Stanley brokers who are now independent and who need comprehensive financial solutions and resources outside of the wirehouse," said Wilson.

"Many RIAs are ex-brokers who have set up their own independent advisory shops. At Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley, they used to have a ton of tools available for their practice. They are missing some of that, and they still need the resources. They want to be able to offer their clients the best breed of products. That's where we come into play. Our value-added is to help them understand and get started with structured products. It's a long-term consultative approach," he said.

One platform

Wilson said that his firm can help in two ways.

First, through its network of broker-dealers and banks, Incapital can provide a diversified range of structured investments in one platform, he said.

"Unlike issuers that only pitch their own solutions, we bring solutions from different issuers," Wilson said.

"If an independent adviser wants to see five different products, they have to meet five issuers. With my team, we can show them all the products in one platform."

Fixed-income portfolios

The second benefit for advisers, he added, is the fact that Incapital underwrites and distributes a whole range of fixed-income securities, offering an all-in-one financial platform.

"As we talk with one of those independent advisers about structured investments, we learn that they're also looking for munis or agencies for their clients. So we have the opportunity to give them a full menu of fixed-income solutions," Wilson said.

He added that Incapital has close relationships with most structured products agents, in particular Barclays, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.

Wilson said that the most time-consuming aspect - and one of the most important ones - is to educate registered investment advisers about structured investments.

Knowledge is power

"Fifty percent of our time is spent educating RIAs because this is the product that requires the most knowledge. We make sure they understand the product. That's why we have sponsored an educational and resource web site called StructuredInvestments.com. We speak at industry panels and distribute a newsletter with the intent to educate independent advisers who lack the resources to understand what is still perceived as a very esoteric product," he said.

But advisers who get more informed about structured investments realize that they can use those securities as a tool for more diversification, better access to "hard-to-access" asset classes and capital preservation, said Wilson.

Incapital is a securities and investment banking firm with offices in Chicago, Boca Raton and London. The firm underwrites and distributes fixed-income securities and structured notes through more than 900 broker-dealers, banks and institutional accounts in the United States, Europe and Asia, according to its web site.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.