Adviser platform provider Hub24 has revealed new SMSF clients are now using its international separately managed account (SMA) offering as a result of advisers taking this approach when it comes to direct investing in overseas assets.
“Managed portfolios remain a key priority for Hub24 and we continue to take leadership in developing our suite of international managed portfolios,” Hub24 managing director Andrew Alcock told selfmanagedsuper.
“Since launching this capability in December last year, we have brought nine international managed portfolios to our platform, with the most recent additions including portfolios managed by Geneva Advisers, AllianceBernstein and Watershed Funds Management.
“Two licensees have built their own managed international portfolios and their advisers are now starting to adopt the solution for their clients, which include SMSF clients.”
Alcock said interest in international managed portfolios was continuing to grow.
“[We] believe adoption of these portfolios will increase significantly over the next few years in the same way there is a groundswell of support currently for domestic managed portfolios,” he noted.
“These solutions will play an instrumental role in supporting investors, including SMSFs, to gain exposure to offshore markets and companies.”
In July, Hub24 revealed it was specifically targeting SMSFs for its international managed portfolio offering as a way to address the asset imbalance in their portfolios.
Alcock said the rise of managed portfolios, or SMAs, was enabling direct investment in international assets for all investors, including SMSFs, combined with the added advantage of professional investment management.
“International managed portfolios are empowering both advisers and their clients to access the diversification and growth benefits of international markets,” he said at the time.
“This could result in a sizeable increase in SMSF allocations to overseas equities.”
Last week, Hub24 reported quarterly retail gross inflows for the first quarter of the 2017 financial year of $496 million, an increase of 25 per cent on the prior corresponding period, resulting in retail funds under administration of $3.77 billion at the end of the quarter.
Net inflows from Hub24’s 12 white-label clients accounted for 39 per cent of retail inflows, with the remaining 61 per cent flowing into Hub24’s own branded product.
That trend reflected the increasing distribution range of the business and the attractiveness of its offer for smaller independently owned licensees seeking to use the platform to create real value for their clients, the firm said.
Seventeen new distribution agreements were also signed during the quarter and 31 new advisers were introduced to the platform.
Two of the new agreements are for customised white labels, including Beacon Financial Group, expected to be launched early next year.
The other white-label client is a prominent independently owned financial advisory group that will leverage its extensive research capacity to offer in-house managed portfolios for its advisers, while also using Hub24’s non-custody reporting services.
Furthermore, Sornem Private Wealth, a Victoria-based licensee with $350 million under advice, has selected Hub24’s retail platform to implement a range of managed portfolios for its clients.
Hub24 is preparing to offer the ability to invest in individual international stocks.
The new service makes available the same major markets and exchanges used by Hub24 to administer international managed portfolios, providing new opportunities for advisers and their clients.
