Lifespan rejigs Omniport pricing
LifespanFinancial Planningwill re-price its Omniport wrap platform by the end of November in response to significant pressure being placed on fees in the market.
The specific changes to the fee structure of the platform, which has $70 million in assets and was launched back in November 1999, will be unveiled next month, says Lifespan research manager William Tomac.
In addition, a new tier changing the fee structure for invested funds between zero and $500,000 will be added to the wrap in the form of a separate fee being introduced for investments ranging from zero to $250,000 and investments between $250,000 and $500,000.
Tomac says the pressure on fees, however, is not restricted solely to wraps but has become an issue throughout the industry and largely fuelled by increasing competition and the recent weak performance of investment markets.
“There’s definite pressure on fees in fund manager land, wrap land and to a lesser extent, adviser land — after all, they do all the work,” Tomac says.
Tomac says the group, which has 150 contracted advisers (60 per cent of whom are accountants), is also monitoring its costs and repositioning to take advantage of an anticipated upswing in activity after March 11 next year.
“What we’re doing is battening down the hatches, stabilising the business and sharpening the knives for the opportunities that lie ahead,” he says.
Such opportunities are the numbers of adviser practices that are unlikely to be FSR compliant come March.
“Many practices will find they are not compliant and we believe as many advisers won’t want to be institutionally owned, they are likely to join independent dealer groups.”
Lifespan has $400 million in funds under advice.
Recommended for you
Net cash flow on AMP’s platforms saw a substantial jump in the last quarter to $740 million, while its new digital advice offering boosted flows to superannuation and investment.
Insignia Financial has provided an update on the status of its private equity bidders as an initial six-week due diligence period comes to an end.
A judge has detailed how individuals lent as much as $1.1 million each to former financial adviser Anthony Del Vecchio, only learning when they contacted his employer that nothing had ever been invested.
Having rejected the possibility of an IPO, Mason Stevens’ CEO details why the wealth platform went down the PE route and how it intends to accelerate its growth ambitions in financial advice.
