Industry research firm CoreData in conjunction with selfmanagedsuper hosted the fifth annual SMSF Service Provider Awards in Sydney last week, with nine out of the 16 finalists holding their position from last year in the adviser-voted categories.
CoreData principal Andrew Inwood said about half the winners had changed from 2016.
“Those who are still winning are doing so [achieving high adviser scores] very well,” Inwood said last Thursday evening.
“The ones that are winning often have better client services.”
Inwood also said trustees were starting to make decisions about who they regarded as their best or more preferred service provider.
“So you’re going to start to see churn inside the service providers and that’s becoming quite obvious,” he noted.
“There are also a bunch of gaps in the marketplace that aren’t being serviced.
“Rich Australians are very aware that the future of the world economy isn’t the Australian economy and for SMSFs it’s a pretty weak offering in that space, so there’s plenty of work those providers have to do in order to be successful.”
The 2017 SMSF adviser-voted category winners were:
• Australian shares – CommSec
• International shares – Magellan
• Fixed income – PIMCO
• Residential property loans – Westpac
• Commercial property, non-residential – Macquarie
• Cash and term deposits – Macquarie
• ETF providers – Vanguard
• Investment platforms – BT Panorama
• Insurance – OnePath
• SMSF accounting software/administration – Class
• Audit function providers – Evolv
• Administrator – SuperGuardian
• Listed investment companies – Argo Investments
• Trust deed supplier – NowInfinity
• Infrastructure – RARE Infrastructure
• Innovator – OneVue
