Boutique group rolls out Next IMA

NextFinancial will become the first non-institutional group in Australia to roll out individually managed accounts (IMAs) and the second to offer them to financial planners.

The boutique investment management group will offer its IMAs to financial planners through either a white label service or under the Next banner, and will pitch the IMAs at clients with a $100,000 minimum investment.

Next Financial managing director Peter Kennedy says the group will offer two styles of IMAs covering equities, with one of the accounts also offering listed warrants. A hedged overlay is available for both funds and where the accounts are not used for superannuation investments Next Financial will also offer a gearing facility.

Next has already been involved in providing IMAs to high-net-worth clients using a custodian system but has struck a deal with Syscorp who will supply the software platform and hardware to run the new IMA products.

Syscorp director Chris Liddell says this IMA is the first of its type as a “third-party vehicle with mass affluent potential for financial planners”.

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Sealcorp was the first group to roll out an IMA in the local market, but has indicated that the minimum investment levels are around the $500,000.

Despite recent headlines regarding IMAs, many broking groups and boutique investment groups have been offering them to high-net-worth investors on a private client basis for some time. But the moves by Sealcorp and Next are the first moves towards pushing IMAs to retail investors serviced by financial planners.