Who We Are

SUMMA Limited is an expert advisory, asset strategy and management consulting firm, active in non-regulated aspects of institutional investment

 

We serve consultants, law firms, private companies, family offices, institutional investors, international organisations, governments, sovereign wealth funds and non-governmental organisations across the globe

 

SUMMA Limited is a UK private limited company, founded in 2006 and registered at Companies House

Our Chief Executive

Qualifying through the London Exchange and Society of Investment Analysts membership examinations, CEO of SUMMA Limited, Martin Harrison, has been a member of the Chartered Financial Analysts Society of the UK (CFA UK) and its predecessors continuously since 1981 and a regular member of the CFA Institute

 

He honed his fundamental research skills analysing the global petrochemical, pharmaceutical, engineering and financial sectors, first in the oil industry and then as a stockbroker, before joining the UK's largest private pension fund in 1983.

Photo courtesy of the Brown Capital Management Africa Forum: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/the-brown-capital-management-africa-forum

Photo courtesy of the Brown Capital Management Africa Forum:

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/the-brown-capital-management-africa-forum

As assistant director, investment director and global partner at Schroders, Bankers Trust and Invesco respectively, he refined active and passive techniques, pioneering style rotation, quantitative and derivative solutions for liability-driven, tactical allocation, currency overlay, portfolio transition and risk management applications.

 

Subsequently he was in demand as senior investment adviser to the principal sovereign wealth funds for the states of Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Qatar and the UAE

 

Recurring themes throughout are his exploitation of information technology and finance theory in tandem with derivative techniques and an enduring commitment to continuing education, to deliver superior solutions and business advantage

Martin holds a Masters degree in PPE and two in finance, has pursued part-time doctoral research in financial economics at London and EDHEC universities and is researching sovereign wealth fund investment policy at the University of Oxford

 

As an Associate Member of the Academy of Experts (TAE), he is a practising expert witness and an Affiliate of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)

 

A recipient of numerous awards, including Lawyer Monthly Financial Services Expert of the Year, Martin is also a conference speaker, especially interested in defining and promoting investment governance and best practices among sovereign wealth funds

 

Photo courtesy of the Brown Capital Management Africa Forum: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/the-brown-capital-management-africa-forum

  Lawyer Monthly Interview

Work at the confluence of international affairs, economics, politics and business drew Martin Harrison towards investment but without connections in the City it was not an obvious career path in 1980, during the deepest recession since the Second World War.

 

Consequently, from business school in the US, Martin went into strategic planning with an oil major. However, he only became more curious to see the bigger picture and understand investment. So, he contacted several stockbrokers and joined a progressive firm led by Nils Taube, a revered investor. His very first job was to have tea with the board of his former employer.

 

The Stock Exchange rule-book was before the Monopolies Commission, 2% commissions were on the way out and old hands, to whom 1974 was a fresher memory than the recent financial crisis is today, felt that “the jig was up”, but Martin relished the pulse, the ticker and the impact of news. He recalls: “at last, it felt like being ‘in the cockpit'”.

 

Lawyer Monthly has the pleasure of discussing with Martin his journey in institutional investment management and his role as an expert witness in the $1.2 billion Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) v Goldman Sachs case.