JB Were to stick with product provision

The new head of retail atJB Were Investment Management(Were), Gordon Thoms, has rejected any moves to become a platform provider and says the group would look for new opportunities in corporate super.

According to Thoms, Were will continue to grow its distribution through advisers and selected platforms and has no intention of becoming a platform provider but sees itself as a retail and wholesale product provider.

“Our primary distribution is through intermediaries — while also providing product to platforms. The strategy is to go after platforms and the dealer groups that use them, but we don’t have a huge distribution capacity, so we will pursue quality relationships,” Thoms says.

Currently Were has $3 billion of funds under management in traditional investment products and $1.5 billion in the cash trust.

Thoms says the company plans to grow funds under management and grow it profitably.

“We have been looking at avenues to grow the business and one area has been the middle ground between retail and wholesale. We are seeing a lot of asset consultants, who traditionally worked in the wholesale markets, now advising small corporates such as fund-of-funds managers and master trusts,” he says.

Thoms says there are also opportunities for Were in the corporate superannuation market which is becoming very retail focussed.

“We don’t have a retail superannuation product. We did consider one a few months ago, but we could not see how it would be profitable for us. We will tackle this area of the market through independent advisers working in corporate superannuation.”

The company will be adding hedged options to its international products and global small caps funds managed by Wellington.

“Advisers have been looking for a hedging option in international that will allow the currency to be hedged back into Australian dollars. We have also tightened the mandates on the international fund in response to adviser requests,” he says.

Thoms says Were’s relationship with Wellington will stay after the finalisation of the merger with Goldman Sachs but the group will also look at Goldman’s product range and see if anything can be introduced into Australia.

“We have had discussions with Goldman about the investment management capabilities and how it will complement what we are doing,” he says.

“Goldman will bring complementary skills which are more structured in some areas, but we won’t introduce any products that will compete with Wellington.”