Research firm CoreData has announced the 23 winners in the inaugural CoreData SMSF Service Provider Awards, recognising the best providers to the sector as determined by SMSF members and their advisers.
The award recipients were revealed on 13 September in conjunction with selfmanagedsuper at the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney.
“Many service providers were successful in winning a single award and a couple of larger financial institutions – AMP and NAB, and their related entities – won four awards each,” CoreData senior consultant Angus Dennis said.
“The results showed the difficulty of winning the support of SMSF members as a whole, together with SMSF-advising financial planners and accountants in the SMSF space for a single service capability.”
Dennis said self-directed SMSF members could have differing service priorities and decision-making processes to those SMSF members with an adviser.
Only two providers won awards in two categories for the same service.
Macquarie was awarded two awards for its cash capability from the ratings of SMSF-advising financial planners and accountants.
AMP administration firms Multiport and Cavendish Super won SMSF administration awards in the SMSF-advising financial planners and SMSF member categories, respectively.
“With many SMSF investors motivated by having greater control of their super, being a highly regarded service provider is clear evidence of adding value,” Dennis said.
“Through the SMSF awards, we have sought to encourage high-quality service for SMSFs and we believe that shining a light on some of the best performers in the space is critical to the sector as it moves forward.
“The importance is also underpinned by the proportion of retirement savings that the SMSF market represents, being the largest category of super in Australia, having recently increased to over $500 billion in assets at 30 June 2013.”
Cavendish Super SMSF solutions manager Sonya Grbevski said winning the award for administration in the member category was a strong testament to the hard work the team had put in during the turbulent times of advice and SMSF administration.
“It’s great to know that we’re appreciated by members,” Grbevski said.
“We went through a big update in terms of the way that we deliver our services and we’ve now moved to a more online and daily-type service and I think our members will really start to reap the rewards of having that additional added value.”
AMP Capital head of retail solutions Edwina Maloney accepted the award for commercial property in the SMSF-advising financial planner category.
“We’re focused on delivering investment solutions that are relevant for the SMSF segment and this is a good indicator that we’re on the road to having relevant product for this market,” Maloney said.
The awards drew on the findings of the CoreData Service Provider study, which had been extended in partnership with the awards process to capture the feedback of 1400 respondents across SMSF members and SMSF-advising financial planners and accountants.
The survey was conducted between April and August.
Service providers gained inclusion on the list based on both a service quality rating and their preference with SMSF members and their advisers.
There were 10 categories of service, with six covering investments and four non-investment areas.
The winners in the SMSF member category were:
Investment categories:
Australian shares – JBWere
International shares – Platinum Asset Management
Fixed income – FIIG
Cash – UBank
Term deposit – UBank
Commercial property – Charter Hall
Non-investment categories:
Investment platforms – BT/Asgard
Residential property loans – Westpac
Insurance – OnePath
Administration – Cavendish Super
The winners in the SMSF-advising financial planner category were:
Investment categories:
Australian shares – Perpetual
International shares – Magellan Financial Group
Fixed income – PIMCO
Cash – Macquarie
Term deposits – AMP
Commercial property – AMP Capital
Non-investment categories:
Investment platforms – Colonial
Residential property loans – NAB
Insurance – TAL
Administration – Multiport
The winners in the SMSF-advising accountant category were:
SMSF accounting software/administration – BGL
Cash – Macquarie
Term deposits – ING Direct
