Legg Mason moves to attract SMSFs and retail investors



Fund manager Legg Mason Australia has sought to drive further into the retail and self-managed superannuation funds market by reducing the minimum initial investment amount on five of its funds.
The company announced this week that it had reduced its minimum initial investment amount to $30,000 for the Australian Real Income, Australian Equity Income, Australian Small Companies, Australian Bond and Diversified.
The company said the move was in response to increased interest from advisers and retail investors seeking to directly invest into the company's funds. Previously, the minimum investment amounts were $200,000 to suit wholesale investors and platforms.
Commenting on the move, Legg Mason Australia head Annalisa Clark said the company had reduced its minimums in order to make its investment capabilities more accessible to a growing segment of the market.
Clark said Legg Mason had also implemented Calastone's paperless, straight-through processing service for platform fund flows, which is expected to provide risk management, cost and efficiency improvements.
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