A selective advisory relationship described with the restraint of an engagement letter: who acts, where assets sit, what is charged and when the right answer is no.
In Camera / heard in private chambers
“Discretion begins with deciding what should not be promised.”
Article I
The mandate
Purpose, scope and the limits of authority.
One mandate. Multiple venues.
The imagined desk advises across liquid markets without pretending they are one product. Each venue retains its own liquidity, suitability, margin and execution constraints.
01Foreign exchange24 / 5
Macro overlays, hedging questions and liquid major pairs.
02Listed futuresGlobal
Rates, indices and commodities through appointed brokers.
03OptionsAdvised
Defined-risk structures, with execution held elsewhere.
Article II
The parties
The relationship named before the service.
01 · PrincipalYou set the mandate.
Owns the assets, accepts or rejects advice and authorises the appointed providers.
instructs
02 · AdviserThe desk advises.
Forms recommendations within scope. It does not hold assets in this concept.
routes to
03 · Appointed firmsThird parties execute and hold.
The executing broker and custodian retain separate responsibilities within the appointed provider set.
The visual hierarchy cannot blur the legal one: adviser, executing broker and custodian are different firms even when the experience feels continuous.
Article III
Fees & conflicts
The economics remain on the same sheet as the proposition.
Illustrative item
Basis
What it creates
Control
Desk retainer
Fixed / quarterly
Availability incentive
Scope and review date fixed
Advisory fee
Illustrative 0.35%
Asset-linked revenue
Cap and benchmark disclosed
Execution costs
Third-party schedule
Broker remuneration
Compared separately
Referral payment
If applicable
Introducer conflict
Named before instruction
Conflict clause
A recommendation cannot be described as independent where a provider payment narrows the available market. The payment, the limitation and the alternative are disclosed together.
Article IV
Method
How a recommendation travels from question to decision.
01
Frame the exposure.
Liquidity, horizon, liabilities and acceptable loss precede instrument selection.
02
Challenge the base case.
Every recommendation arrives with the condition that makes it wrong.
03
Separate advice from execution.
The client decides; the appointed broker executes; the record preserves both.
04
Review the mandate.
A change in objective or capacity reopens the terms rather than quietly stretching them.
Article V
Who we decline
Selectivity is credible only when the door is visible.
Plate VThe door
The desk is not designed for
01Execution-only instructions
Where the desired product is a signal, a broker button or automatic replication.
02Unmatched mandate size
Where the cost and operating model would overwhelm the benefit.
03Unserved jurisdictions
Where permission, promotion or provider coverage has not been established.
04Guaranteed-outcome expectations
Where loss, uncertainty or the possibility of no recommendation cannot be accepted.
Article VI
Engagement
A three-question concept fit check—not an application.
