Asgard unveils low-cost offspring

By Craig Phillips

Asgardwill venture into the low-cost platform arena in April with the launch of its own mini-master trust, Elements.

Sealcorpdirector of distribution and sales Dan Powell says Elements will not be positioned as another low-cost platform in the market.

“We’re positioning Elements as a mini-master trust and not a low-cost platform because in our eyes, a lot of the products in the market place are just investment solutions and not business solutions.

“You have to give them [low-cost platforms] credit for being price competitive for the investor but they don’t offer one point of advantage for the adviser and eventually using it will complicate the adviser’s business, which in turn will affect standards for investors,” Powell says.

Powell adds that Elements was created to provide advisers with the ability to deal with low account-balance clients, but claims it will do so in a more efficient manner.

“Some of these low-cost platforms don’t even have consolidated tax statements. We will be offering templating, auto rebalancing and full functionality alongside AdviserNet — it all centres around business efficiency, so the adviser can spend more time focusing on client servicing and developing their business,” Powell says.

According to Sealcorp associate director institutional business services Wes Gillett, the spawning of Elements was fuelled by the proliferation of lower cost platforms.

“We were able to come to the market quickly by leveraging off our existing Asgard capabilities, but removing some of the functionalities not required when servicing clients with lower average account balances,” Gillett says.

The manager line-up is yet to be confirmed but Gillett says they are all leaders in their asset classes, with the likes ofUBS,SchrodersandPlatinumto be included.

Gillett says there is a clear segmentation developing in the market, with the poles being traditional master trusts at one end and the new mini-platforms at the other.

“I don’t think the rise of low-cost platforms will lead to cannibalisation of the traditional master trusts, but I do believe there will be a consumer driven move to embrace the lower cost platforms,” Gillett says.