Online automated investment firm Ignition Wealth has revealed plans to capture the SMSF market, following the recent launch of its product to consumers.
Ignition Wealth was granted its Australian financial services licence 12 months ago and was opened to individual clients in October.
The platform matches investors with 12 exchange-traded fund (ETF)-based diversified portfolios based on six risk profiles. The asset allocation of the portfolios is managed by research house Lonsec.
The product was released to SMSFs after Christmas with an entry point of $25,000 and a fee of $50 per month plus GST and brokerage.
“We have had early interest at this stage,” Ignition Wealth chief executive Mark Fordree told selfmanagedsuper.
“We had a high level of pre-registration before we launched the product and we’ve been talking to individual practices given how recent it’s been, so we’re only just beginning our larger volume marketing efforts.
“What’s very clear to us is that people want to have a lot more say in the way their assets are managed and part of the reason is that they’ve found the [current structure they’re in], perhaps an industry fund, is fairly opaque and the level of engagement with the fund managers has been poor.
“There’s no coincidence that the advent of the ETF market and its high growth have an application to SMSFs because it gives trustees access to highly diversified portfolios, overlaid with risk-matched portfolios, so they’re getting access to the types of portfolios which were only previously accessible through a professional asset manager at a very different price point.”
Fordree said he expected the platform to be generating good traction from SMSFs within the next three months and it would target both advised and non-advised trustees.
“That should also reflect the quality conversations we’re currently having,” he said, adding the firm was also developing an advice piece as a strong proposition with the offering.
“We have an advice centre so people can opt in to speak to an adviser at any time.
“There’s also the education piece, which is all available to anyone who registers with us and they can access a lot of this information before they open an account because our mantra is to have and to build a platform which people see as really good value.”
Ignition has been generating advice for seven years, with its core technology platform used by half a dozen industry funds where the primary offerings include intra-fund advice, as well as tools and calculators for wealth and insurance.
