Zenith picks up former S&P client
Zenith Investment Partners has entered into an agreement to provide managed funds research to Brisbane-based FTS Personal Financial Advice, a former client of S&P Funds Services.
Zenith national sales manager John Nicholl acknowledged there is "a lot of change going on" in the research space as the providers vie for business.
"S&P's [departure from the Australian market] has got a bit to do with that … but S&P don't have a really broad existing client base as far as I can tell," he said.
The biggest stumbling block when it comes to attracting new business is the long lead time involved, Nicholl said.
"It probably takes about 18 months from when I first go and meet an adviser business to when I ultimately get them as a new client," he said.
"They've normally been with an incumbent provider for a number of years, and you really do have to offer something quite special and quite 'value-add' to get them to shift," Nicholl said.
In spite of reports of an increasing move towards direct equities among financial advisers, Nicholl said Zenith is seeing a shift back towards model portfolios.
"I think advisers have reached a point now - especially in these markets - where they've realised it's not all that easy to add value [with direct equities]," Nicholl said.
The advantage of Zenith's model portfolios is they can provide clients with well diversified, risk-adjusted returns, he said.
"Advisers [who offer direct equities] can never show you what level of risk is involved in that, what volatility, what standard deviation comes from those returns. They just can't track it," Nicholl said.
Along with Zenith's appointment by FTS, the research house has also been chosen to deliver ratings to two Melbourne-based practices: the client advisory division of broking house Evans & Partners, and Gilham Financial Management.
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