Financial services platform provider Assetly has acquired Mclowd to add SMSF administration to the suite of facilities it offers to clients.
The purchase occurred in the back half of 2022 after initial discussions began in March and is one of the first initiatives Assetly has put in motion in its goal to ultimately provide a single source for the investment, trading and administrative needs of consumers, including SMSF trustees.
“We’re looking to build a platform where [users will firstly be satisfied] with the Mclowd software, but as we roll out a range of [additional] features [they will recognise] I can have a bank account via the platform and use a trading facility within the SMSF service that will be much cheaper,” Assetly co-founder and chief operating officer David Toohey told selfmanagedsuper.
The new owners of the SMSF administration service are planning to build additional features into the existing product to add more value for trustees.
“[We’re looking at innovations such as] a bank account or a debit card in effect where you can pre-fund the amounts you need to meet your minimum pension every year,” Toohey noted.
While having clients interact with all facets of the platform is a goal the organisation has set for itself, it will not be a requirement to do so for users of the Mclowd service acquired.
Assetly is also aiming to capture some of the accounting market as well with its SMSF administration offering.
To this end, Toohey said the firm has plans to offer to prepare and lodge SMSF annual returns for a fee of around $1000. This has been seen to provide a more cost-effective solution to benefit practitioners who have less than 10 SMSF clients.
The administration arm acquired from McLowd will be owned by an entity called Assetly Accounting, with the actual service being branded Assetly SMSF.
