Sygnia Asset Management Seeks To Turn Savers Into Extraordinary Investors
Sygnia Asset Management Seeks To Turn Savers Into Extraordinary Investors. For Sygnia Asset Management, it’s about embracing new ways of doing things, even if they exist outside its own industry. It thinks ahead, both in how it approaches investing and in how it interacts with its clients. The company stands up for what’s right, even if that means going against the grain. Most importantly, it collaborates with people and institutions to find a better way to save and invest, a way that works for all South Africans. Its vision is to turn ordinary savers into extraordinary investors. Its mission is to make saving and investing simple, affordable, and accessible to all.
Magda Wierzycka the Founder and Non-Executive Director is the force behind the company’s rapid growth and is the architect of its innovative strategy. She started her career as a product development and investments actuary at Southern Life in 1993 and then worked as an investment consultant for two years at Alexander Forbes. In 1997, she joined Coronation Fund Managers as a director and as its Head of Institutional Business.
She left Coronation in 2003 to start IQvest, a fund of hedge funds management company. Later that year, after selling IQvest to the African Harvest group, she was appointed to the position of CEO of African Harvest. After negotiating the sale of African Harvest Fund Managers to Cadiz Financial Services in 2006, she led the management buy-out of the remainder of the African Harvest group, which resulted in the formation of Sygnia.
The domestic index-tracking products are managed by Sygnia’s investment team, which has a 13-year track record in managing index-tracking funds in South Africa. Other products, including international products and money market funds, may be managed by third-party asset managers selected by Sygnia based on their expertise and cost.
Index-tracking funds, or passively managed investments, are investment strategies that aim to mirror the performance of a particular index (e.g. FTSE/JSE All Share Index), rather than outperform that index. Index-tracking funds offer a low-cost way to invest in equities, property and bonds.
Sygnia does not offer comprehensive financial planning advice. The Sygnia RoboAdvisor is designed to offer a low-cost level of advice based only on the information disclosed by the client. If they change any of the investment parameters (e.g. their recommended risk profile), the advice given will no longer hold. It encourages investors to speak to a financial advisor if they are unsure of their requirements.
