Copia treats all actual and potential MPS investor clients as Retail customers.

Whilst all Copia’s MPS portfolios are managed to deliver value for money, the mandates to manage model portfolios for those Retail investor clients do vary, between Copia’s off the shelf models, and those customised for specific adviser firm’s target markets.

Copia’s Custom product mandates are managed under Agent of Client (aka Reliance on Others), where Copia treats the Adviser firm as the agent of the investor client and relies on them for information on the client. Under these arrangements, often referred to as tripartite, there is a direct contractual relationship between Copia and the investor client. This means that should it be required, direct access to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is available to that investor as a direct client of Copia.

Off the shelf products are managed under an Agent as Client contractual basis, where for all practical information and instruction purposes treats the Adviser firm as the client. Under this arrangement there is no contractual relationship between Copia and the investor client. The contractual relationship here is only between Copia and the Adviser firm (and between adviser firm and investor client), but it still allows the adviser firm to make suitable investment decisions on the investor client’s behalf. However, without that direct contractual relationship between Copia and the investor client, there is no access to the Financial Ombudsman Service through Copia.