Abigail Wilson becomes10X client relationship manager
DISRUPTIVE asset manager 10X Investments last week appointed Abigail Wilson to the newly created role of client relationship manager.
Wilson, a certified financial planner, joined the retail team at 10X at the beginning of this year and quickly stood out for her dedication to detail and ability to build an easy rapport with clients and colleagues.
Head of retail at 10X Emma Heap said the creation of this “very exciting new role” demonstrated the company’s willingness to continue to invest in the customer experience.
“For the last two years we have focused on building a retail business. It allowed investors to invest their hard-earned savings in a retirement fund that serves their needs: delivering consistently high returns at a fraction of the industry’s usual cost,” said Heap.
The name of asset manager with a mission to “wow” clients was initially coined by the late Andy Grove, former chief executive of Intel. According to the company’s chief operating officer, Tracy Jensen, it “describes the impact of a new entrant who fundamentally changes the rules of an industry as a 10X force because it makes it 10 times harder for the existing players to compete. We thought the name appropriate, given that we are changing the fundamentals of the retirement fund industry. We pronounce it ‘ten-ex’, not ‘ten times’.”
Jensen explained that 10X Investments, which is almost 10 years old, is a retirement fund administrator and investment manager that provides a simple, effective, low-cost retirement and investment solution, both in the corporate and retail space. It manages more than R8billion in private and corporate retirement investment funds. “Our corporate clients include Virgin Active, EOH and Macquarie.”
The business was built on one overriding philosophy: serving the client’s best interests. “This way of thinking has shaped the way we administer their money, the way we invest their savings, and the disclosure, transparency and financial planning tools we provide.
“As regards our investment philosophy, we believe that achieving one’s investment goal shouldn’t be a matter of luck. So, instead of letting our clients choose from a variety of options, we offer them one investment solution that we believe will give them the best possible chance of meeting this goal.”
10X started out as an alternative to the standard industry model. Founder and 10X chief executive Steven Nathan became acquainted with the investment world when he was an equity analyst at Deutsche Bank, covering the financial services sector.
Here he was introduced to the self-serving practices of life insurance and investment companies, and the ruinous impact of their often complex and expensive products.
He realised that these companies prioritised shareholder wealth over investor returns, with no attempt at a fair compromise or a win-win outcome. The anecdotal evidence – the poor outcomes achieved by family and friends on their RAs despite healthy stock market returns – confirmed as much. 10X was born out of this frustration.