Platinum: Macquarie issue was not about fees
The turnaround inPlatinum Asset Management’s decision to withdraw its funds from theMacquarieWrap platform investment menu was not related to fees in any way, says Platinum chief executive Kerr Neilson.
According to Neilson his group was concerned that under the new fee structure being introduced it would lose access to the underlying data of which advisers were supporting Platinum’s funds.
“We are of the position that if we did not get the information than we would not support the platform, which acts as an intermediary in providing services to the financial adviser and the fund manager,” Neilson says.
“The investors and financial planners are our customers and this would have impeded our communications with them as end users. We ask for full access to adviser information because we would consider it negligent if we did not have it.”
Neilson says Platinum maintains a consistent unitary pricing structure across the industry which would not change at all regardless of what moves platforms made.
His comments follow on from news late last week that the boutique manager would withdraw its funds from the Macquarie wrap platform investment menu.
YesterdayMoney Managementreported that Platinum would actually remain on the platform avoiding a cut-off date of September 4 after which no business would be accepted.
The issue came to a head after Macquarie introduced a new fee structure in which managers could continue to pay a fund manager fee of $5500 and a $3300 administration recovery fee per fund.
Alternately managers could access a rebate structure where amounts received over the administration recovery fee would be allocated by Macquarie Wrap back to investors in the full Wrap Manager products.
Macquarie also offers a low cost wrap platform called Accumulator and managers choosing the second option would receive a listing on its investment menu and reports covering the support of its funds at the adviser level.
Those managers choosing the existing option would remain on the full wrap investment menu and receive reports covering the support of its funds at the dealer level.
Macquarie Wrap Solutions head of product and marketing Matthew Rady says the group had received a high level of feedback from third party planners requesting further details of the changes and the ongoing inclusion of Platinum on the platform’s investment menu.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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