County returns to retail
County Investment Management has returned to the retail market after an absence of two and a half years.
County Investment Management has returned to the retail market after an absence of two and a half years.
To spearhead the return, County has poached former HSBC head of retail Bruce Garratt, but his role is going to be more an educational one rather than selling new, specifically designed retail products.
County head of marketing Wayne Grant says the new retail strategy will be about educating financial planners to use County when they are selecting a fund manager or a master trust. The Melbourne-based fund manager is on many master trust and wrap accounts as an investment option.
“We will be selling our wholesale capability,” he says. “We are fortunate the brand is still considered in a positive light,” he says.
County has about $2.5 billion under management through master trusts, but the relationship in the past few years has been with the trust providers, not financial planners, Grant says.
“We will not be developing our own master trusts or wrap accounts as we see our role as a fund manager that meets performance objectives,” he says.
“Nor will we be rolling out a national office structure, instead relying on e-commerce and a real B2B Internet platform to service financial planners by the end of this year.”
When County pulled out of retail last time, the marketing of its Lifestyle range of products passed to National Australia Financial Management (NAFM).
Grant says when NAFM became a manager of managers last year, its products just became one of a number the company was selling.
County has now taken back selling the Lifestyle range — which consists of eight products — but it will not be marketing them aggressively, Grant says.
However, County has repackaged its 35 wholesale funds into a single prospectus and reduced the minimum investment to $100,000. The move is to be actively promoted as part of the new retail thrust.
As part of the shift back to retail, County has set up a client services team, with a call centre, to handle its 11,000 clients.
National will continue to play a role in distributing County products through its planners in the branch network, Grant says.
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