IG Wealth counts benefits of tech, marketing shift: CEO

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This article was published 18/04/2024 (562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was less than five years ago that IG Wealth Management made a major commitment to a suite of new digital tools that has transformed the way its 3,200 financial advisers are able to work with their clients.

Assets under management were up nine per cent in 2023, and up almost five per cent through the first few months of 2024, currently sitting at about $113.5 billion.

The significant shift in technology platforms took place around the same time the Winnipeg-based company changed its name to IG Wealth Management from Investors Group, which signalled the company’s marketing shift to target higher net worth individuals.

Damon Murchison, president and CEO, said the introduction of new technology for its financial advisers, including the adoption of Winnipeg company Conquest Planning Inc.’s financial planning software (and an investment in the company itself), was not easy.

“It was five years of lots of work and a ton of disruption, with advisers having to learning a new planning tool,” he said. “But now is the fun part.”

Last year, the company broke its record for bringing in new high net worth clients. Now, 26 per cent of new business is with clients investing $1 million or more, Murchison said. Five years ago, only 12 per cent of new clients brought that much investing power.

Murchison spoke with the Free Press this week, during a break from meetings with the leadership of the company’s 52 branch offices across the country.

Even though it has a new name and is operating further up the investment value chain, IG Wealth remains the same stable operation it has always been.

Its stock trades in a fairly narrow band, without much volatility, and clients earn good returns but perhaps not the jackpot sometimes read about from investments in tech unicorns.

“Our clients are making money,” Murchison said. “The market has been very strong particularly over the last 2 1/2 quarters, although the last few weeks have been rough.”

Even though the company itself is doing well and client portfolios are achieving good returns, there is a bit of a disconnect when it comes to state of affairs on the ground with high interest rates and inflation and a generally higher cost of living, he said.

“I have never really seen such a dichotomy in my career. Usually, there is more of a correlation.”

He figures those sorts of challenges for consumers might even get worse with per capita debt likely to increase.

“About 50 per cent of the country’s mortgages are coming due in the next three years, and they are going to be renewed at much higher rates,” he said. “While our business is doing well and our clients are making money, day-to-day living is not as great as it could be.”

Meanwhile, the company’s move to a higher net worth client base — along with the technology tools to manage it — has put it in a good position. Along with traditional financial planning, IG Wealth advisers also work with clients on tax, retirement and estate planning in a more fulsome way, officials said.

Last fall, it also added a private company advisory service for small- and medium-sized businesses, providing valuation and help in marketing — and the sale of the company for those ready to do so.

Murchison said that business was not designed as a profit centre on its own (it hopes to just pay for itself) but it will help generate new high net worth individuals (after they sell their companies) who might then become new clients for IG Wealth’s financial planning business.

In 2026, the company will celebrate its 100th anniversary; Murchison said that will include all sorts of activities in Winnipeg.

Even though the Winnipeg Blue Bombers home field was renamed Princess Auto Stadium earlier this year, after a 12-year sponsorship run as IG Field, Murchison said IG Wealth Management will become an even more consequential corporate citizen in the Manitoba capital.

“We want to make sure people understand the sponsorship change is a actually a good thing,” he said.

Instead of investing in the kind of profile that the naming rights to a pro football stadium brings, Murchison said it’s deploying a similar amount into grassroots investment.

Earlier this year, it announced a new partnerships with Pathways to Education Winnipeg and RRC Polytech that will provide Indigenous and newcomer youth with a variety of educational supports, including mentorship, internship and scholarship opportunities.

“We can put 300 Indigenous students through this every year,” Murchison said. “This is where we can make a difference in the city.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca