Badged wrap brigade expands as WHK joins ranks through BT
WHK Financial Services has become the latest group to offer its own badged wrap service through BT Portfolio Services.
WHK Financial Services has become the latest group to offer its own badged wrap service through BT Portfolio Services.
The planning group, part of accountancy firm William Hatchman Kean, will roll its WHK Super master fund into the new wrap service Super Life. It will also of-fer a non-superannuation wrap service called Wealth Watch.
The WHK Super Fund has about 700 members and $65 million in funds under manage-ment. It began operation in 1986, making it one of the earliest master funds launched.
WHK Financial Services' superannuation director Simon Corbridge says the new wrap service will appeal to the firm's clients who want to take complete control over their superannuation assets without some of the perceived disadvantages of going DIY.
"If you choose your investments carefully, you can get tax advantages in wraps. For example, if your investment gets imputation credits, you can offset some of the contributions tax on the investment. We believe the administration of a wrap service may be more expensive than our current model, but this service will be much more marketable to the client," he said.
BT Portfolio Services' senior vice-president Dan Powell says the deal brings the number of dealer groups offering their own badged BT wrap service to 13, some-thing he attributes to the growing need of advisers to concentrate on building their client relationships.
Powell says accounting groups in particular can benefit from offering a wrap service.
"Accounting groups are making an effort to strengthen their position with cli-ents. These groups have strong brand names and they should leverage off this," he said.
BT Portfolio Services is currently in discussions with several more accounting groups, including "one of the Big Five" Powell said, however he would not dis-close which groups these were.
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