SMA product available for AFS advisers
Australian Financial Services Group (AFS) has decided to add a separately managed account (SMA) to the range of recommended products its advisers can offer their clients.
AFS Group chief executive Peter Daly said the independent dealer group got the idea to make a SMA available to its advisers after recognising how successful these types of products have been overseas.
“I personally think SMAs are an emerging market. The exciting part is that here in Australia we are able to provide this service at a far, far lower cost and fee structure than what they can offer overseas,” Daly said.
AFS has appointed Merrill Lynch Investment Managers to be the responsible entity for the product after conducting a rigorous tender process that involved five other fund managers.
Daly said AFS chose to partner with Merrill Lynch because of the strength of the manager’s brand, both domestically and worldwide, and its ability to provide an Australia-wide service that was compatible with the dealer group’s own domestic geographical diversity.
“It also came down to Merrill Lynch’s ability to meet out requirements, to tailor [the product] to what we were looking for. I don’t want to provide a solution that somebody else can go and duplicate overnight. Our key is to always seek a point of differentiation,” he added.
The SMA product will offer access to equity investments covering a variety of asset classes including international shares, unlisted securities, and domestic and global fixed interest.
Daly believes it will give clients an opportunity to manage their equity investments in a more tax-efficient and active way, with the advantage of having the direct support of a professional manager.
“The exciting thing about SMAs is that they are no longer just applicable to high-net-worth individuals. Now you can participate in a SMA with perhaps a transaction as low as $20,000, but the clients we’re targeting are those with anywhere between $100,000 and $500,000 to invest,” Daly explained.
Recommended for you
Despite the year almost at an end, advisers have been considerably active in licensee switching this week while the profession has reported a slight uptick in numbers.
AMP has agreed in principle to settle an advice and insurance class action that commenced in 2020 related to historic commission payment activity.
BT has kicked off its second annual Career Pathways Program in partnership with Striver, almost doubling its intake from the inaugural program last year.
Kaplan has launched a six-week intensive program to start in January, targeting advisers who are unlikely to meet the education deadline but intend to return to the profession once they do.
