Fiera Capital, Inc. is a financial advisory firm that’s headquartered in New York City. The firm has billions of dollars in assets under management (AUM). Fiera works with a wide range of clients, including individuals, investment companies, charitable organizations, government entities, pooled investment vehicles, corporations, retirement plans and more.
Fiera is a fee-only firm. This means that all of its earnings come from advisory fees paid by clients. That's in contrast to a fee-based firm, which may earn income from other sources like securities sales commissions. By eschewing such transaction-based fees, the firm avoids the potential conflicts of interest that come with them.
Fiera Capital Background
Fiera Capital was founded in 1972 as Wilkinson O’Grady & Co., Inc. In 2013, Fiera Capital Corporation, a Canadian company, acquired the firm to become its U.S. division and rebranded it as Fiera Capital.
There are many advisors working at this firm. Among them are chartered financial analysts (CFAs), chartered alternative investment analysts (CAIAs, certified public accountants (CPAs) and more.
Fiera Capital Client Types and Minimum Account Sizes
Fiera Capital works with nearly 5,000 clients. More than three-quarters of them are either high-net-worth individuals or wrap fee account participants. The rest of its client base consists of non-high-net-worth individuals, investment companies, pooled investment vehicles, pension and other retirement plans, charitable organizations, government entities and corporations.
Fiera Capital generally requires a minimum account size for clients who use its separately managed account (SMA) services. These minimum requirements range from $100,000 to $50 million, depending on the investment strategy. At its sole discretion, the firm may decide to lower or waive these minimums.
Services Offered by Fiera Capital
Investment management is the primary offering at Fiera Capital. Each client is matched with the investment strategy or strategies most appropriate for their personal financial goals. Other factors that are taken into account when your portfolio is constructed include your risk tolerance, time horizon and income and liquidity needs.
The firm also acts as an advisor for some wrap fee programs, with a limited number of the firm’s investment strategies being available through these programs.
Fiera Capital Investment Philosophy
With a range of investment strategies as options, Fiera Capital chooses the one that’s best aligned with your needs. As you might expect, each strategy uses different types of securities.
- Equity Strategies: This is a collection of long-term approaches that invest exclusively in equity securities.
- Equity-Growth Strategies: According to the firm’s Form ADV, this group of strategies seeks to invest in “companies with stable growth and emerging growth characteristics that are within industries and sectors poised to benefit from global secular growth trends.”
- Equity-Emerging Markets Strategies: This is the strategy that the firm uses to advise the Fiera Capital Emerging Markets Fund. It’s designed to induce long-term capital appreciation through equities of companies in emerging market countries.
- Equity-ETFs Strategies: This is offered by the Fiera Allocation Fund. It invests mostly in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds that are made up of equity securities.
- Fixed-Income Strategies: A group of strategies focused on tax efficiency and preserving wealth by investing in various fixed-income securities.
- Non-Traditional Strategies: A collection of alternative investment strategies generally used for the firm’s Private Fund clients.
Fees Under Fiera Capital
Fiera Capital charges advisory fees as a percentage of clients’ AUM, with exact rates varying depending on both the size of the account and the investment strategy its using. The way you’ll pay these fees will be laid out in your client agreement. Here are the rates you can expect
| Fiera Capital Investment Management Fees | |
| Strategy Type | Fee Range |
| Equity | 0.20% - 0.85% |
| Equity - Growth | 0.40% - 1.00% |
| Fixed-Income | 0.15% - 0.65% |
The firm also takes fees from the private funds it manages. These also vary by fund and strategy, with annual rates ranging from 0.20% to 1.90%.
What to Watch Out For
Fiera Capital has no disclosures of legal or regulatory events on its SEC-filed Form ADV.
Opening an Account With Fiera Capital
If you’re interested in beginning a relationship with Fiera Capital, there are a couple of different ways to get the ball rolling. You can send an email to contactus@fieracapital.com or call the firm at (212) 300-1600.
All information is accurate as of the writing of this article.
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