Credit Suisse to launch master trust
Credit Suisse Asset Management(CSAM) will wade into the master trust market in the new year after revealing plans today to launch a range of products in the area.
The move - five years after CSAM first launched its suite of retail products into the Australian market - is part of the group’s strategy of becoming a fully “diversified financial product provider”, according to chief executive officer, Andrew McKinnon.
“The launch of our master trust will allow us to further fulfill this objective,” McKinnon says.
Robert Hayward, who joined CSAM back in March fromBTwhere he was head of client management for wrap, is leading the development of the project and will head up the master trust business when it kicks off in the first half of next year.
“Our plan is to create a product that not only meets advisers’ current needs but also has a flexible structure for their future requirements,” Hayward says.
“We have spent a significant amount of time analysing the current market offerings as well as considering the revised compliance framework that will apply in the future.”
The master trust offerings will initially be available as investment, superannuation and allocated pension products, and will later offer a corporate super option.
Acording to Hayward it will offer control, flexibility, unique product design and will be cost effective to both advisers and their clients, and the group plans to leverage off existing software platforms and technology to facilitate the initiative getting off the ground.
“Having moved administration in-house for our entire product range we have been able to respond quickly to industry changes and improve our levels of client service. The master trust will effectively utilise the infrastructure in which we have already invested,” McKinnon says.
Back in October CSAM also announced its plans to make a decisive push into the Asian market by opening an office in Hong Kong and revealing a new distribution strategy for the Asia ex-Japan region.
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