Despite the volatility on the stock markets, the list of boutique fund managers continues to grow with three former Goldman Sachs JBWere investment managers launching Fairview Equity Partners in Melbourne yesterday.

The boutique firm invests in Australian small cap equities, and has developed small cap fund Fairview Equity Partners Emerging Companies Fund.

Fairview is supported by National Australia Bank's direct investment management business, nabInvest, which owns 45 per cent in the new business.

Investment managers Chris Adams, Michael Glenane and Leigh Cronin left Goldman in June this year, when it was still an investment bank. They had been working together for more than five years in Goldman's asset management Australian equities team.

Cronin does not believe the current financial turmoil provides a disadvantage for the launch of the business.

"I rather open now than coming off a year with strong premiums [on share prices]," he said.

The market of small caps is still under-researched and inefficiently priced, Cronin said. This will enable the firm to outperform small cap indices.

"The current environment is a good hunting ground with plenty of opportunities," he said.

"We rely for our [investment] decisions on our own research, and we take pride in the quality of our research."

Fairview received its financial services license early October and started investing with seed money provided by NAB and by the managers themselves.

"You need some money to start investing, that is part of the boutique model," Cronin said.

NAB will provide access to a range of back-office, product and distribution services to Fairview including access to custody services and corporate governance functions.