Waterhouse shake-up
Online broker TD Waterhouse has launched an aggressive campaign in a bid to gain a dominant share of the managed funds broking market.
Online broker TD Waterhouse has launched an aggressive campaign in a bid to gain a dominant share of the managed funds broking market.
In a number of separate moves, the group has announced the upgrade of its retail branch network and the addition of managed funds, research data and portfolio ad-ministrative services to its online brokerage service.
The addition of the research and managed funds will, according to the group, "shake the financial services industry, place pressure on traditional distribution channels for managed funds and raise the bar on discount brokers with a basic trading service."
The branch upgrade will see the opening of a branch in the ASX Centre in Sydney, bringing the total number of branches to eight, spread through the state capitals. Ex-isting branch offices in the state capitals will either be relocated or refurbished with the new premises in Sydney expected to be open by late June.
The managed funds service will initially profile about 30 funds. The funds will fall into the four categories of Australian equities, international equities, multi-sector trusts and fixed income.
At the same time, the online broker will rebate up to 100 per cent of fund entry fees for clients who enter into a managed fund via TD Warehouse. TD Waterhouse will use Morningstar for data and ratings information on the whole range of managed funds available. Quantative analysis will be supplied by TD Asset Management and InvestmentLink will provide a consolidated reporting service to online cus-tomers.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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