Tony van Niekerk of COVER, in a conversation with David Lloyd, CEO King Alexander Investments
In an industry often characterised by predictability and sameness, King Alexander has made a bold entrance, challenging traditional thinking with an innovative approach to investment platform design.
I recently sat down with David Lloyd, CEO of South Africa’s newest Listed Investment Services Provider (LISP), to unpack the thinking behind this venture and why he believes it is time the investment world became truly client centric.
David is no stranger to financial innovation. An actuary by training and one of the original architects of structured products in investment banking, he has spent his career finding new ways to apply financial engineering to real-world problems. After moving to South Africa in 2011 to head up Liberty Investments, David played a pivotal role in launching several successful and unconventional products, ranging from Sharia-compliant life insurance to remittance-based insurance solutions for migrants. But it was a deep frustration with the existing retail investment model that sparked the idea for King Alexander.
“The current model is fundamentally unfair,” David says. “Investors take on all the risk, yet they pay the same fees whether their investments perform, or not. And the more they invest, the more they pay in admin fees, which makes no sense, because admin costs don’t scale like that.”
Only pay when you are winning – King Alexander is built on the premise of fairness and transparency. At the heart of their offering is a simple but disruptive idea: investors only pay when they are winning.
This performance-based fee structure flips the standard model. Each portfolio is assigned a target return. If the investor does not exceed that return, King Alexander refunds both the advice and investment management fees. Only when the investor outperforms the benchmark does the platform take a small share of the excess return.
Add to that a flat admin fee, just R100 per month, regardless of portfolio size, and the cost-saving potential is massive. For a R1 million portfolio, David points out, investors could save up to 70% in platform fees compared to traditional LISPs.
David’s deep background in product design is evident in the suite of investor protections King Alexander offers. Every investment includes a built-in mortality guarantee. If an investor passes away and their investment has lost value, the shortfall (up to the original investment amount) is paid out. And as the investment grows, so does the guarantee.
“Time is an investor’s best friend,” David explains. “But if you pass away early, you lose that time. This protection gives your loved ones the benefit of what the investment should have become over time.”
Additionally, King Alexander automatically covers executor fees on all plans, paying out 3.5% plus VAT to cover estate costs, whether the investment goes through formal estate processing, or not.
From fee structure to value-added benefits, every element of King Alexander is designed to prioritise the client. One particularly thoughtful innovation is the “family tree” structure: once a family member opens an account, others can join under the same R100 monthly admin fee, split proportionally across all accounts. It is an invitation to families to invest together, build wealth collectively, and save on fees.
“Everything we have built had to pass a single test,” says David. “Does this serve the client first? If not, we did not build it.”
Powered by partnership with King Price – The partnership behind the platform is as compelling as the platform itself. David approached King Price, known for turning the car insurance market on its head with its declining premium model, because of their shared ethos for disruption.
“I emailed Gideon Galloway, the CEO of King Price, at 8am on a Monday. By 8:45am, he’d replied personally: ‘I love it. Let’s do it.’ By Friday that week, we had a deal.”
King Price brings more than capital to the table. Their team of actuaries, legal experts, and financial specialists helped bring David’s ambitious concept to life, ensuring the platform is both innovative and robust. While King Alexander is an independent brand, King Price is a major shareholder, adding credibility and strategic strength.
Advisor-first distribution – King Alexander is available exclusively through financial advisors, reinforcing its commitment to quality advice and responsible investing.
“This is not something that should be self-directed. It’s new, it is different, and it needs to be explained properly by advisors who understand it,” David emphasises.
Advisors can connect directly through the King Alexander website, which already includes contact details for interested parties.
As the industry grapples with fee compression, shifting client expectations, and the need for more transparency, King Alexander’s arrival couldn’t be better timed. It brings not just another product, but a philosophy that re-centres the investor at the core of the offering.
With innovations like performance-based fees, embedded protection, and family-linked pricing, King Alexander is not just launching a LISP. It’s launching a new standard.
And as David Lloyd puts it, “We are here to disrupt retail investing, or the benefit of the client.”