Hamilton Wealth mandates arcpoint OCIO

Hamilton Wealth Partners has appointed arcpoint OCIO as its outsourced chief investment office as the specialist family wealth advisory firm seeks to strengthen its investment governance and support the needs of its growing client base.

arcpoint founding partner Jacqui Fernley will take on the role of chief investment officer for Hamilton Wealth Partners, following the firm's 2026 strategy review of the needs of its clients and the capabilities required as their wealth structures become more complex.

Hamilton Wealth Partners chief executive and founder Will Hamilton said the appointment was intended to complement, rather than replace, the firm's existing adviser relationships.

"Investment expertise is what gets an advice firm in the door, it is not what holds a family for thirty years," Hamilton said.

"What holds them is the depth of the advice relationship, across structures, succession planning, the family business and the next generation, and as our clients' affairs have grown that relationship has asked more of all of us."

Fernley joins from Mason Stevens, where she most recently served as chief investment officer, leading the asset management function and overseeing approximately $9 billion in client capital. Her career also includes senior investment roles at Wilson HTM, Magellan Financial Group, JBWere and Colonial First State Global Asset Management.

She said the appointment reflected a point at which investment management becomes increasingly focused on governance and processes as advice businesses grow.

"As an advice practice grows, investment management quietly stops being a portfolio question and becomes a process one, and Hamilton Wealth Partners reached that point and was clear about what it wanted done," Fernley said.

arcpoint OCIO will work alongside Hamilton Wealth Partners' advisers across public and private markets, with investment decisions overseen by the firm's Investment Policy Board under independent chairmanship.

Advisers will retain responsibility for determining suitability for individual clients, while the firm has formalised its investment decision making framework and strengthened its underlying research and analysis.

Hamilton said the structure would allow clients to retain their existing adviser relationships while gaining an investment process designed to institutional standards.

"Our clients do not need more products, they need better decisions made on their behalf and explained properly, and this is the most important appointment we have made," he said.