Sowell Management Partners With Rayliant for OCIO
Sowell Management, a $6 billion AUM North Little Rock, Ark.-based RIA, has formed a partnership with global asset management firm Rayliant to incorporate the latter’s investment research and strategies into its OCIO platform. Rayliant’s focus is on developing asset allocation strategies using smart beta ETFs. As part of the partnership, Rayliant founder and Chairman Jason Hsu, PhD, has assumed the role of chief investment strategist at Sowell.
Hsu will continue to lead Rayliant while collaborating with Sowell’s OCIO team to help develop a repeatable investment process that will seek to enhance consistency and compliance in portfolio management.
“When we were introduced to Jason Hsu and the team, there was very much a cultural alignment. Once we started looking at what Rayliant brings to the table in offerings for our advisors, it was a no-brainer,” said Bill Sowell, founder and CEO of Sowell Management. “It provides our advisors with investment solutions that you are not going to find with all the other firms out there. We want our advisors to have something that is curated and bespoke and not something that their clients might see in other places.”
Sowell’s OCIO platform incorporates third-party portfolios managed by Affinity Investment Advisors, Goldman Sachs and others. The platform’s main focus is on ETFs, but the firm also has SMA strategies, according to Sowell. Rayliant’s ETF line-up includes Rayliant Quantamental Emerging Market ex-China ETF (RAYE), Rayliant Quantitative Emerging Market ETF (RAYD), Rayliant SMDAM Japan Equity ETF (RAYJ) and Rayliant-ChinaAMC Transformative Tech ETF (CNQQ), among others.
“Over the last decade, Rayliant has partnered with advisors to bring institutional-quality investing to wealth management,” said Hsu in a statement. “During that same time, Sowell has helped countless advisors succeed by providing high-touch, turnkey OCIO services. Our partnership brings together the best of both worlds—Rayliant’s institutional asset allocation strategies using smart beta ETFs delivered through Sowell’s white-glove concierge platform, built as the ‘easy button’ for advisors.”
Last year, Rayliant formed a joint venture with two other active investment managers, Barney Company and Clough Capital Partners, to create Powered by ETFs, a platform that specializes in ETF models and provides OCIO services. Hsu has been bullish on emerging markets, predicting that as more Americans retire, the bargaining power of producers in emerging markets, especially Asia, is going to increase.