Over recent weeks we’ve been profiling the latest MPS providers to join Analyser. Here we take a step back to feature one of our original ‘founder’ MPS providers, Sparrows Capital.

Sparrows has £425m in assets under management, and launched its SCore MPS suite in February 2020.

It operates a capped fee charging structure of 0.1% a year on the first £240,000 invested with no charge thereafter and no VAT. The MPS fee is capped at £20 a month per end client, and covers portfolio construction, monitoring and rebalancing.

SCore takes an evidence-based, low-cost approach to investing, and portfolios are constructed using index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

There are four ranges:

- SCore Factor (index funds and ETFs)

- SCore Factor (index funds only)

- SCore Responsible (index funds and ETFs)

- SCore Responsible (index funds only)

Advisers receive portfolio updates and chief investment officer (CIO) market commentary on a quarterly basis, and can also access a CIO video conference every six months where advisers can ask questions and hear directly from the senior investment team. There is also a document portal where advisers can access SCore materials on demand.

Sparrows Capital head of adviser proposition John Bennett says: “SCore was designed specifically to break the mould in terms of value in becoming the first retail model portfolio service to offer capped fees, thus ensuring that economies of scale accrue to individual investors rather than the service provider, and will assist advice firms in meeting the forthcoming Consumer Duty requirements.”

“Our relationship with advisers is key. As we operate via the ‘agent as client’ model, we have no contact or knowledge of underlying investors. We aim to put advisers in a good position to ensure their clients have a clear understanding of the benefits and risks of what we offer. We believe the clarity and simplicity of the service facilitates this outcome.”

There are currently 29 MPS providers available to research in Analyser. You can find out more about each of these, including Sparrows Capital, on Analyser’s MPS directory