BT Financial Group (BTFG) has revealed interest in its BT Panorama SMSF platform across financial advisers and dealer groups has been strong since it opened its doors for business in April.
“We’re still relatively early in our offer, but we’re really pleased with the level of interest it’s drawing from the market, and we continue to see strong momentum in uptake and usage of the Panorama platform and the various components of the SMSF offer,” BTFG head of SMSF Craig Lawrenson told selfmanagedsuper.
“We’ve seen 87 per cent growth in the number of funds since 1 October 2015 and we have roughly around 1900 SMSFs that registered to use the platform, so we’re very pleased with that number and it reinforces the momentum and usage we’re seeing.”
Lawrenson said in particular there had been activity in new fund establishment, as well as interest in the fund administration solution.
“We’re seeing traction in our deed establishment and genuine interest in our fund administration, but they’ve had less time in the market compared to the core investment experience, where the bulk of the money and activity is sitting,” he said.
“More than half the accounts that we have on Panorama at this stage are SMSFs, so that’s an indication of attractiveness.
“Reflecting on some of the feedback from the marketplace, the modularity and supporting of the collaboration between advisers and accountants is resonating the most and it’s been able to bring the accountant into the model in a purposeful way.
“Also we’ve had a positive response to the specific SMSF capability we’ve built into the platform, such as the document library and the two-way data exchange and reporting.”
BT Panorama SMSF will add a tailored portfolio capability in September.
“The role of a tailored portfolio is essentially a model management tool that allows dealer groups to establish model portfolios at that dealer level, have advisers subscribe to those model portfolios and then implement those model portfolios across their client base,” Lawrenson noted.
“So in many ways it supports the advice efficiency of being able to select and adapt their model portfolios to the needs of their clients.
“Also, the capability extends to enable certain stocks to be removed from a portfolio if they have to and substitute it with others, et cetera.
“It’s at the heart of supporting advisers being able to implement portfolios for a client base in a really efficient way.”
BTFG’s focus will now be on the number of enhancements planned for release before the end of the year.
“There will be a broadening of the investment platforms, so a further extension of the capability we have on Panorama already,” Lawrenson said.
“In addition, from a mobile perspective, both advisers and advised investors have access to Panorama via mobile and we’re extending those applications to further reporting and tools to support the relationship between adviser and client.”
In April, BTFG announced it had selected cloud-based administration firm Class as the software engine behind the BT Panorama SMSF solution.
BTFG is now looking at future business partnerships.
“We are working with some of the other providers out there as well, but it’s a bit early to say where and when they will drop,” Lawrenson added.
