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Remuneration Policy.

 

Background

Blue Whale Capital ("Blue Whale” or “the Firm”) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") as a MiFID firm and is subject to the MIFIDPRU Remuneration Code.  Blue Whale is the delegated investment manager of the WS Blue Whale Investment Funds - WS Blue Whale Growth Fund and the Blue Whale investment Funds ICAV - Blue Whale Growth Fund (“the Funds”).  Blue Whale is categorised as a small and non-interconnected Firm (“SNI”).

The Funds are long-only (unleveraged) and dedicated to investing in global equities.  Blue Whale aims to generate significant outperformance vs. IA Global peers. Its comparator benchmark is the IA Global sector average. The Funds do not have an official benchmark. Blue Whale undertakes its own research and builds a concentrated portfolio in 25-35 high quality companies which have a  strong competitive position, low risk of disruption by new-entrants, changes in technology or evolving consumer preferences, plentiful growth opportunities and a high quality management team. All investment research is performed inhouse; sell-side research is not used. All investment research is rigorously debated by the entire Investment Team. The aim is to invest at an attractive price and hold. Each stock is re-assessed and debated at least once per quarter. The Funds do not invest in complex instruments or in derivatives. ESG considerations are integrated into the investment process and subject to record-keeping and compliance monitoring.  The Funds do not have specific ESG objectives or restrictions.  

 

Governance and oversight

Blue Whale’s Management Committee (“the ManCo”) is the governing body of the Firm for regulatory purposes and is responsible for all aspects of the Firm’s business. The purpose of the ManCo is to ensure that the Firm is being run in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements and regulatory guidance, that it is acting in the best interests of investors in the Funds, and that it operates an appropriate risk management framework with an effective control environment so that the Firm operates within its risk appetite.  The Firm has an established Enterprise Risk Management covering all aspects of the business including investment and operational risk.

The ManCo undertakes an annual review of all policies.  Remuneration compliance is subject to annual monitoring.

In the light of the nature and scale of its business, the Firm does not consider it appropriate to establish a separate remuneration committee.

 

Blue Whale’s approach to remuneration

Blue Whale seeks to ensure that its remuneration policies and practices promote effective risk management in the long-term interests of customers and the Firm, that there is alignment between risk and individual reward, that positive behaviours and strong a strong client-centric culture is supported and finally that behaviours leading to misconduct or poor customer outcomes are actively discouraged.   The policy is designed to avoid conflicts of interest and to promote sound and effective risk management, ensuring that investments remain consistent with the Funds’ risk profiles and that remuneration arrangements do not encourage undue risk taking.

Blue Whale's structure and investment process creates a strong, natural alignment of interests between the Firm, the Funds and investors. The two members of the LLP are the owners of the business.  Each has invested their own money in the business and its capital is provided by them. They are entitled to a pre-determined, fixed proportion of the Firm’s profit, in accordance with their ownership of the Firm which does not constitute variable remuneration under the Rules.  Employees who are not members of the LLP receive a salary, certain benefits, and are eligible for an award of a discretionary bonus.

 

Application of the policy

This policy applies to all members, employees, secondees and consultants and is gender neutral.

Blue Whale has identified staff undertaking Senior Manager Functions and Portfolio Managers as Material Risk Takers and hence Remuneration Code Staff.  They are notified of this classification and its implications.

The policy applies to the performance year 2022/2023 which is aligned with the Firm’s accounting period.

 

Policy

Staff other than members and Senior Managers receive a fixed salary, certain other benefits including personal pension contribution and are eligible for an award of a bi-annual discretionary bonus. The salaries of these staff are set at a sufficiently high level to ensure that fixed and variable remuneration is appropriately balanced and that the Firm maintains the sustainability of its financial resources. 

The award of discretionary bonuses is at the ManCo’s discretion and will depend on both the financial position of the firm and the outcome of the individual's performance reviews which are undertaken through the year. The performance review process assesses staff performance against a range of factors including non-financial objectives. Control staff are independent of the business that they oversee; the Chief Compliance and Risk Officer (“CCARO”) is an independent consultant not an employee).  Their variable remuneration is based on an assessment of their achievement of objectives linked to their functions.

Blue Whale may offer a guaranteed bonus in the first year of employment when hiring a new member of staff.

Remuneration Code Staff are informed that they may not use personal hedging strategies, remuneration-related insurance, liability-related insurance or any other device that undermines the aims of the Code.

 

Risk Management

Blue Whale is required to ensure that remuneration practices are consistent with, and promote, sound and effective risk management. The remuneration policy should not encourage risk taking which is inconsistent with the risk profiles of the Funds.

The ManCo monitors two key risks/potential conflicts of interest which might arise in an investment management business from inappropriate remuneration structures:

1             Remuneration hard-wired to investment performance, could give rise to a focus on short term investment decision-making to boost performance unduly increasing the risks for the investors; and

2             Remuneration of sales staff could lead to mis-selling of the Funds to investors for whom they are unsuitable.

The nature of Blue Whale’s business, the nature of the Funds which it manages, its distribution arrangements and its remuneration arrangements significantly mitigate these risks.

Sound and effective investment risk management is a key element of Blue Whale's investment strategy. The Funds are run pari passu off the same investment process based on fundamental analysis.  Adherence to the process and strategy is monitored daily by the CCARO.  The Funds do not charge a performance fee and Blue Whale staff are not remunerated for generating high short term returns.  Accordingly, the Manco is satisfied that there is no financial incentive to take risks which are not consistent with the risk profiles of the Funds or which are outside the Firm’s strategy and objectives.  Whilst the Firm has a Chief Investment Officer and named fund managers, the investment process is highly collegiate with regular rigorous broad debate on strategy and all underlying investments.  The breadth of involvement and the open nature of the process reduces the risks of non-compliance with the Funds’ risk profiles.

Blue Whale does not provide specific investment advice, the Funds are non-complex and are deemed to be generally suitable for all three investor types detailed in the FCA Rules including retail clients and private individuals.  The Firm stipulates that investor capital is at risk, that the Funds do not provide income and that investment must be viewed as long-term.  Blue Whale markets directly to retail clients and via professional regulated intermediaries.  All financial promotions are subject to compliance checking.  Compliance monitors client service outcomes and complaints to ensure that any negative feedback would be considered in performance reviews.

 

Alignment with Business Strategy and the Interests of the Funds

The ManCo believes that the remuneration policies and wider control arrangements are in line with Blue Whale's business strategy, objectives, values and the interests of the Funds and the investors and include measures to avoid conflicts of interest.

 

Disclosure

Blue Whale has published remuneration disclosures as required by FCA BIPRU rules and will publish suitable disclosed under FCA IFPR rules.

This Remuneration Policy is available on the Blue Whale website.

Last Updated: January 2023

Approved by the ManCo on: 27th January 2023