Matthew Appelstein is guiding Old Mutual Asset Management further into the retail channel, and he's doing it by taking a cue from the firm's established institutional presence.

"We're focusing on advisors who are acting as their own investment-centric shops, doing their own due diligence," explained Appelstein, head of sales and marketing, in an interview with The MFWire. "You have to be able to talk to an advisor about an investment process."

So, even as Appelstein has added seven to his retail distribution team, he's shifting his wholesaling force towards being "investment-centric."

"I think the wholesaling industry is at an inflection point," Appelstein said, pointing to the "institutionalization of retail" trend describing by industry consultants.

Appelstein also sees a real opportunity to educate advisors, an opportunity he doesn't want to pass up. To that end, he's recently distributed three white papers from Old Mutual managers (on global high yield investing, hedge seed funds and alternative investing).

"These are papers that make the advisors smarter and help them leverage their knowledge in the marketplace," Appelstein said, adding that they've also created "all-new materials, from scratch," for the retail marketplace. "We're really partnering with the affiliates. They approve all the materials." 

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