'Why client focus drew me to Sun Life'

Sun Life Global Investment's new Head of Investment Distribution Jordy Chilcott says the growing firm are uniquely positioned heading into 2018

'Why client focus drew me to Sun Life'
Sun Life Global Investment’s ability to guarantee clients’ returns puts them in a unique position moving forward, according to new Head of Investment Distribution Jordy Chilcott.

Chilcott joins the leadership team on a firm that reached $20 billion in assets after only seven years of being in operation. He says that the company’s ethos in putting investors’ needs at the heart of their product platform meant they stood out when deciding his next move.

“To me, the Sun Life organisation is uniquely positioned going forward when it comes to the accumulation, preservation and then ultimately income, as people go through their life of investing and protecting all along those phases,” he said.

“I think the last part is where it’s most uniquely positioned and the ability to protect the outcomes on all of those phases. There were a number of firms I was speaking with but Sun Life Global Investments had all the pieces that fit most client needs going forward. Sun Life overall puts clients at the centre of everything they do. So it’s interesting, you can take the entire life journey with the product platform.

“I think the vast majority, I would say 90 per cent, of Canadians just want to invest along a specific outcome, fit the risk tolerance and then [it’s a case of], do I want that guaranteed or am I willing to trade off? Very few firms, and Sun Life Global Investment is one, can actually do the guaranteed portion of that as well.”

Chilcott, who most recently was President and CEO at Dynamic Funds, says Sun Life can be proud of what they have achieved in a relatively short space of time and is impressed by the calibre of other leaders the firm has been able to entice prior to his joining.

He said: “The growth since 2010 is extremely impressive from basically a standstill to now, utilising strong related asset managers but also the best-in-class sub-advisory platform, the granite portfolios and our CIO Sadiq (Adatia).
It’s a very interesting combination when you also put our group retirement services into the picture. So $20 billion is a fantastic number and I haven’t seen anyone else do that since 2010.”

He added: “Bringing in GICs is a key part of the job – it completes the whole picture when Sun Life Global Investments is dealing with our advisor population. They are really covering the whole investment spectrum rather than only one piece of it as a mutual fund or an ETF or a segregated fund; they are covering all of those. It’s more about, what does the client need and what’s the appropriate solution? Rather than if I’m a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”


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