BT ramps up baby wrap
BT Financial Group’s no-frills wrap, Wrap Essentials, has undergone its largest menu expansion since its inception, adding 14 new funds including the first fund of hedge funds on an Australian ‘baby wrap’.
Wrap Essentials now houses 52 funds, but BT’s head of wrap distribution Don Sillar said this was not a cost disadvantage in the low-fee platform marketplace.
“Fifty-two gives us more funds than Asgard Elements, about the same as ING and less than Skandia and Colonial FirstChoice, but you’ve got to remember that our baby wrap is on the same platform as our main wrap, where the others tend to be separate.”
Six of the 14 new funds are income-producing funds.
Sillar said this reflected “advisers’ desire to offer alternatives to complement the already saturated mortgage fund market”.
Investing in everything from international fixed interest to buy and write securities, the new income funds are the Colonial Income Fund, Challenger High Yield Fund, Macquarie Diversified Fixed Interest Fund, Merrill Lynch Monthly Income Fund and PM Capital Enhanced Yield Fund.
The pioneering hedge fund-of-fund option will be managed by US-based Grosvenor Capital Management, while another notable addition is Intech’s High Opportunity Fund, a global multi-manager fund.
Intech’s roster currently includes: Marvin & Palmer and Wellington — both global growth managers; Marathon — a global value manager; Pzenza and Sands Capital — US value and growth managers respectively; Bernstein — a non-US value managers; and William Blair — a non-US growth manager.
A BT spokesperson said Wrap Essentials was growing at about 2 per cent a week, with inflows between $2 million and $4 million recently carrying its total assets over $200 million.
Recommended for you
Advisers at DOD Bookkeeping, which received an $11 million penalty last week, received as much as 40 per cent of their remuneration via a bonus when clients purchased a property via a SMSF, according to court documents.
Private wealth manager Escala Partners has launched an end-to-end investment platform to strengthen its alternatives capability as clients seek sophisticated vehicles.
Perpetual Wealth Management has hired two advisers from Ord Minnett as part of five hires, just weeks after the rival firm announced it had picked up six from Perpetual Private.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a Perth financial services firm following payments to its clients by the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort after a failed managed investment scheme.