FAROS Consulting

What FAROS Consulting does

FAROS Consulting is an owner-managed (inhabergeführter) investment consultancy headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, founded in 2003, that advises institutional investors across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH). The firm covers the full institutional investment process value chain, including Asset-Liability Management (ALM) studies, strategic and tactical asset allocation, asset manager selection, risk controlling, and investment reporting. Its core clients are insurance companies, pension funds and retirement institutions, family offices, foundations, endowments, and church institutions.

The firm’s differentiated offerings include FAROS Fiduciary Management (an outsourced CIO / fiduciary management service housed in a separately incorporated AG with its own supervisory board), the FAROS Private Markets Database (one of the first publicly accessible databases for illiquid private market funds targeting German institutional investors), FAROS Faktor-Timing (a scientifically based factor approach with monthly factor reweighting), ESG consulting, and dedicated cost-optimisation and asset-servicing (KVG/Verwahrstelle selection) advisory. A second subsidiary, FAROS Institutional Events & Media GmbH, operates the firm’s proprietary annual conferences, including the Investoren Summit, Asia Day, and Verwahrstellen + KVG Summit. The firm also uses proprietary manager selection analysis tools in beauty contests.

FAROS generates revenue through professional services fees — quote-based, multi-year engagements — and explicitly positions itself as independent of product providers, banks, and other financial intermediaries. Distribution is exclusively direct B2B via senior investment consultants; there is no self-service, marketplace, or retail channel. The firm is founder- and management-owned with no disclosed institutional or private-equity backing.

Name

FAROS Consulting

Legal name

FAROS Consulting GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://faros-consulting.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

FAROS Consulting is an owner-managed Frankfurt-based investment consultancy founded in 2003, advising institutional investors across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on the full investment process, including fiduciary management, asset manager selection, ALM studies, and ESG integration.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Investment Consulting

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Management Consulting Services (54161), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSAAACAG

Institutional Consulting RIAs (OCIO/Endowments/Foundations/Pensions)

Financial & Insurance/Asset & Wealth Management/Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) & Independent Wealth Managers

SECONDARYFSAEAAAB

Investment Management Advisory (RIA)

Financial & Insurance/Financial Advisory, Brokerage & Intermediation/Investment Advisory & Financial Planning

Keywords

• Investment consulting
• Fiduciary management
• Asset manager selection
• Strategic asset allocation
• Institutional asset management

Headquarters

HQ city

Frankfurt

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Investment Consulting Fees: Professional consulting fees for investment advisory services including fiduciary management, asset manager selection, ALM studies, strategic asset allocation, ESG consulting, and investment reporting. Services are provided to institutional investors on an ongoing advisory basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

FAROS Consulting provides investment consulting and fiduciary management services to institutional investors across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The firm advises clients along the entire value chain of the investment process — from Asset-Liability-Management (ALM) studies through strategic and tactical asset allocation, asset manager selection, risk controlling, and investment reporting — and offers fiduciary management (outsourced CIO) services as well as a proprietary Private Markets Database for illiquid funds.

Product overview

FAROS Consulting is an owner-managed investment consultant headquartered in Frankfurt am Main that advises institutional investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The company offers a comprehensive suite of advisory services organized around a core Investment Consulting offering that covers the entire investment process value chain—from Asset-Liability Management (ALM) studies and Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) through Asset Manager Selection, Risk Controlling, and Investment Reporting. Key differentiated offerings include FAROS Fiduciary Management (outsourced CIO services), the FAROS Private Markets Database (a publicly accessible database for illiquid funds), FAROS Faktor-Timing (scientific factor-based timing), and ESG Consulting. The company operates completely independently of product providers, banks, and other financial intermediaries, allowing for objective, provider-independent recommendations. FAROS also organizes proprietary events including the annual FAROS Investoren Summit, FAROS Asia Day, and FAROS Verwahrstellen + KVG Summit.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FAROS Fiduciary Management: Treuhänderische Übernahme des gesamten Kapitalanlageprozesses (outsourced CIO / fiduciary management) für institutionelle Investoren.
• FAROS Asset Manager Selection
• FAROS Asset-Liability-Studie (ALM)
• FAROS Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA)
• FAROS Asset Servicing
• FAROS Kostenoptimierung
• FAROS Faktor-Timing
• FAROS Private Markets Database
• ESG-Beratung

Products and services

• FAROS Fiduciary Management Fiduciary (outsourced CIO) management providing treuhänderische übernahme des gesamten Kapitalanlageprozesses for institutional investors across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, independent of banks and asset managers. Covers the entire capital investment process on behalf of the client.
• FAROS Asset Manager Selection Systematic selection procedure to support investors in choosing appropriate asset managers through structured evaluation processes, including proprietary analytical tools used in beauty contests and manager selection.
• FAROS Asset-Liability-Studie (ALM) Asset-Liability Studies (ALM) zur Steuerung der Bilanz und der Ertragsseite, helping institutional investors align assets with liabilities through quantitative balance-sheet and earnings-side modeling.
• Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) Advisory service helping institutional investors define bedarfsgerechte (needs-based) strategic asset allocation across asset classes, anchored in quantitative and qualitative portfolio construction principles.
• FAROS Asset Servicing Renditeoptimierung durch gezielte Auswahl von KVG (Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft) und Verwahrstelle — return optimization for institutional investors through targeted selection of management companies and custodians.
• FAROS Kostenoptimierung (Cost Optimization) Analyse und Verringerung der Kosten Ihrer Kapitalanlage — analysis and reduction of costs in institutional capital investment through systematic cost reviews.
• ESG-Beratung (ESG Consulting) Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte in den Portfolios institutioneller Anleger — sustainability consulting integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects into institutional investor portfolios. Faros is a signatory to UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI).
• FAROS Private Markets Database One of the first publicly accessible databases for illiquid funds (Private Markets) in the German institutional investor market, enabling institutional investors to research and evaluate private markets investments free of charge.
• FAROS Faktor-Timing (Factor Timing) Auf wissenschaftlicher Basis bei der die Faktoren monatlich neu gewichtet werden — a scientifically-based factor-timing investment approach in which investment factors are reweighted monthly to optimize factor exposure in client portfolios.
• Investment Consulting (Gesamtberatung) Holistic advisory along the entire value chain of the investment process — from ALM studies, strategic and tactical asset allocation, asset manager selection, risk controlling, and investment reporting — for institutional investors in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Delivered under the umbrella brands FAROS Pension & Asset Advisory.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully managed mandates including EUR 50 million sovereign fixed income mandate for Austrian investor

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• UN PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFAROS is a signatory to the UN PRI, demonstrating commitment to integrating ESG and sustainability considerations into investment decision-making processes for institutional clients.
• aba Arbeitsgemeinschaft für betriebliche Altersversorgung e.V.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFAROS Fiduciary Management AG is a member of aba, the leading professional association for occupational retirement provision in Germany.
• Club of FinanceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional membership association for finance industry participants.
• Pensions-AkademieminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional academy for pension industry education and development.
• Fairness StiftungminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation focused on fairness in business relationships.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• StepStone Group: Global private markets investment firm with extensive private markets data, research and advisory capabilities. Closely comparable to the FAROS Private Markets Database proposition — adjacent rather than directly competing in core consulting, but a reference point for the private-markets-data niche FAROS has built.

Broad incumbents

• Northern Trust: Large global custodian and asset servicer with a significant OCIO and investment management franchise for institutional clients. Competes with FAROS on outsourced-CIO mandates as part of a broader custody/asset-servicing platform rather than a pure consulting specialist.
• Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Portfolio Solutions): Large asset manager with a dedicated OCIO / Portfolio Solutions group serving pension funds, insurers and other institutional asset owners. Competes with FAROS Fiduciary Management on outsourced-CIO mandates, typically at the larger end of the institutional market where FAROS does not play.
• BNY Mellon: Global custodian with an OCIO and investment management platform serving institutional asset owners. Competes with FAROS Fiduciary Management in the outsourced-CIO segment, though typically at much larger mandate scale and as part of a broader custody offering.

Direct peers

• Aon: Global consulting firm with a strong investment consulting and fiduciary management franchise, including in Germany (via the legacy Aon Hewitt / Lurse integration). Competes head-to-head with FAROS on pension and insurance mandates in DACH.
• Mercer: One of the largest global investment consultants with dedicated OCIO and advisory practices serving institutional clients across the DACH region. Directly competes across the same service stack (fiduciary management, ALM, manager research, ESG) that FAROS offers.
• Cambridge Associates: Global investment consulting firm providing discretionary OCIO and non-discretionary advisory services to endowments, foundations and pension plans. Comparable to FAROS in serving institutional long-horizon capital with manager selection and portfolio construction expertise.
• Russell Investments: Global OCIO specialist with a multi-decade track record in outsourced CIO services for pension funds and other institutions. Directly comparable to FAROS Fiduciary Management on outsourced-CIO positioning and institutional mandate profile.
• Willis Towers Watson: Global investment consulting and OCIO provider with a significant DACH practice. Directly competes with FAROS on fiduciary management, manager selection, and ALM engagements for pension funds and insurers across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
• Meketa Investment Group: Independent investment consulting and OCIO firm focused on institutional clients (public pensions, corporates, endowments). Directly comparable to FAROS in business model — independent advisor providing manager research, SAA and full discretionary OCIO.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FAROS Consulting