Strategies
Our risk-managed strategies span insurance wrappers, fiduciary arrangements, and stress-tested portfolio construction — each calibrated to your specific exposure profile.
Discuss Your Situation
Most advisory conversations begin with a question about returns. Ours begin with a question about what you cannot afford to lose — and why. This inversion shapes everything that follows. Before we recommend a single instrument or structure, we conduct a full risk inventory: we examine your existing portfolio for correlation risk, liquidity ladders, counterparty concentration, and regulatory jurisdiction exposure. We then stress-test those positions against three adverse scenarios — a prolonged equity bear market, a sharp currency dislocation, and a sudden liquidity crunch — and identify the gaps. Only once those gaps are mapped do we propose structures designed to fill them. The result is a mandate grounded in evidence, not optimism.
Each module can be deployed independently or combined into a fully integrated protection mandate.
We design unit-linked insurance contracts issued by EU-regulated carriers, wrapping a diversified sub-fund of equities, bonds, and alternatives. Assets inside the wrapper are legally segregated from the policyholder's personal and business balance sheet, providing creditor protection, simplified inheritance transfer, and — in many EU jurisdictions — deferral of capital gains tax until withdrawal. Minimum mandate: €500,000.
Using Slovak private law and, where appropriate, Austrian or Liechtenstein foundation frameworks, we construct entities that hold assets on behalf of a defined beneficiary class. This separates your personal liability from your investment assets, protects them during corporate insolvency events, and provides a clean, documented governance structure for multi-generational transfer — without the administrative burden of a full family office.
Rather than optimising for maximum expected return, we construct portfolios with explicit maximum drawdown targets — typically 10–15% from peak. We use scenario-based correlation modelling, maintain a minimum 20% liquid buffer at all times, and review allocations quarterly. Benchmark: capital preservation in real terms over rolling five-year windows.
Clients with income or liabilities in multiple currencies often carry hidden FX exposure. We audit those exposures, implement natural hedges where possible, and recommend structured FX overlay instruments where the residual risk exceeds defined tolerance thresholds. We apply equivalent scrutiny to counterparty risk across custodians, insurance carriers, and banking relationships.
We work alongside your notary and tax adviser — never replacing them, but providing the financial architecture that makes their legal work coherent. This includes asset-location analysis across jurisdictions, beneficiary designation reviews, and liquidity planning to ensure heirs are not forced to liquidate illiquid holdings under time pressure or in adverse market conditions.
“I had used three different private banks before coming to Hartwell & Mercer. None of them had ever shown me a stress test of my own portfolio. The first meeting here included a scenario where EUR/CZK moved 8% against me — a risk I was genuinely carrying without knowing it. That clarity alone was worth more than a year of advisory fees elsewhere.”
Petra Blahová, Prešov — entrepreneur, healthcare sector
Practical answers to the questions clients raise most often before their first consultation.
Our standard engagement threshold is €500,000 in investable assets — assets outside your primary residence and operating business. Clients below this level are welcome to an initial consultation, and we can direct them toward suitable independent advisers if a full mandate is premature.
We operate as a pure advisory practice. We do not hold client funds, we are not a custodian, and we do not earn commissions from product providers. Our revenue comes entirely from transparent advisory fees agreed in advance. This structure eliminates the conflicts of interest that distort recommendations at commission-based firms.
An insurance wrapper places your investment portfolio inside a life-insurance contract issued by a regulated carrier. The assets are legally ring-fenced from your personal balance sheet, creditors cannot reach them in most circumstances, inheritance can transfer outside the probate process, and — depending on jurisdiction — capital gains accumulate tax-deferred until you make a withdrawal. The investment flexibility inside the wrapper is comparable to a direct account.
A straightforward insurance wrapper typically takes six to ten weeks from signed advisory mandate to funded policy. A fiduciary or foundation structure with cross-border elements can take four to six months, depending on the legal jurisdictions involved. We give you a realistic timeline at the outset of every engagement — not an optimistic one.
Yes. Many of our clients retain both a private bank for day-to-day banking and Hartwell & Mercer for structural oversight and independent risk review. We operate as a second opinion and architecture layer, not as a replacement. We are happy to liaise directly with your existing advisers where that adds clarity.
Book a diagnostic session with a senior adviser. We will review your current arrangements and identify the gaps — plainly, without obligation.
Request a Diagnostic Session