BT extends margin lending
TheBT Financial Group has extended its margin lending facility within its wrap account service to now cover equity investments.
The extension of margin lending within the wrap means that investors using the service can gear into both equities and managed funds, after managed funds were added to the gearing menu 18 months ago.
BT wrap product general manager Mike Smith says the reason for the extension of the loans was that advisers were increasing their demand for margin loans into core investment products. At the same time they also wanted to use the reporting capabilities of the wrap to report on the investments.
The extended loan service has been rolled out on an immediate basis and coincides with an increase in share ratios of nearly half of the 206 stocks available through the wrap based margin loan. The share ratios dictate the amount that investors can lend when purchasing equities through the margin loan facility.
BT’s head of margin lending Jason Flanagan says the addition of the service to the wrap will not increase the fee in either product, with the only costs on the margin lending side being the client loan fees.
BT has also bundled their recently released multi-manager funds into the wrap which was given a five star Cannex product rating in March of this year after the financial services group rebuilt and relaunched the product following more than a decade of operation.
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