New Member Company: Premium Finance Group
William Ross | 2009-12-08
Having its base in Shanghai is not much of an issue in today’s world, Mr. Hallgren stresses. “First of all, Richard or I visit Tokyo every five weeks or so,” he says. “We also do regular Skype conferences with all of our clients who are not based in China.”
The company now boasts over 400 clients, many of whom came with the two when they formed the Premium Finance Group. “We wanted to improve on the service and in-house fund-management we could provide—and of course I always wanted to run my own business,” Mr. Hallgren says. “Almost all our clients came with us, because this business is so much about trust, and about serving the client. We have a Swedish fund manager from one of the leading Swedish investment banks on the staff, as well as another analyst from Europe. Our client list is largely Swedes, but we don’t limit ourselves to Swedish clients.”
He notes that they do provide a particular advantage for Swedes through their partner company in Sweden. “We do have specific knowledge about Sweden, such as on taxation,” he stresses. “From 2008, in Sweden there are new mandates that allow you to actually consolidate your pension fund, which might have come from different employers. This has been very interesting for clients, because this was previously locked in. Now they can bring these funds together, and actually begin to invest and work with their capital. I feel that this is one way in which we can be particularly helpful; we have no competitors in either Japan or China with the same connection with Sweden that we can provide. We are the only Swedish-owned advisory firm in the region.”
The company has now been in operation for about two years, and has 14 people on its staff. “We are a boutique firm,” Mr. Hallgren says. “Our aim is not being a big regional or global player, but to be in a position where we can work very closely with our existing clients. When we do grow, we like ‘warm leads’—referrals from our existing clients to potential new clients. That’s really what we base our business on.
“We really stress to our clients that we are a complement to their normal bank,” he continues. “We aren’t asking clients to invest all their money with us. There are many types of investments that can help spread risk. What we are is a good alternative, as we are very close to the client. We produce an in-depth, monthly report for our clients as well as shorter newsletters; we have a 24/7 login for the client; and we are very proactive in stock trading for our clients.”
Mr. Hallgren adds that lasting relationships are a key part of the partner’s thinking, “All of our senior advisors are given a small share in the company.” he says. “We want to reduce the number of people entering and leaving the company, so that we can have very long-term relationships with both staff and clients. We could have brought in five or ten junior advisors, but this also could have diluted our brand in just a few days. We’re very strict about who we take onboard, so we were able to create a young and dynamic team that is also well-experienced and very driven. We want to show success!”
Because of the company’s well-established links with Japan, Mr. Hallgren felt it was important to join the SCCJ. “Naturally part of it is that we can develop connections, but the SCCJ is something that we value a lot in other ways,” he says. “We are very much welcomed there, accepted and respected, and it’s a good forum for us. We also feel that it’s a very professional chamber, compared to many others we have seen.”
And, while Mr. Hallgren has had more than 12 years’ experience in the Asia-Pacific area, he has not actually been based in Japan. “I love coming to Japan for business, and would welcome the opportunity to actually work in Japan.” A hint, perhaps, of future growth possibilities for this dynamic young company?
