The recent experience of a fund manager specialising in private credit suggests more SMSF trustees are looking to include this asset class in their fund portfolios.
“This year since 1 July, that is the start of the financial year, over 30 per cent of the new entities that have been registered for investment with our business have been SMSFs,” Zagga executive director Tom Cranfield told selfmanagedsuper.
Data provided to this masthead showed SMSFs accounted for 13.07 per cent of Zagga’s funds under management as at 30 June 2025 up from 10.51 per cent recorded in the 2024 financial year, representing an increase of 24.37 per cent over the 12-month period.
Cranfield noted there was particularly strong interest from one segment of the sector.
“Even more interesting is the growth on the wealth adviser piece. So year-to-date, as it relates to the wealth advisers putting their client’s SMSF into our offerings, we have seen an uptick of over 75 per cent,” he confirmed.
Here company information indicated the proportion of its funds under management from SMSF members using an independent financial adviser increased from 11.98 per cent for the 2023/24 income year to 27.53 per cent as at 30 June 2025 representing a jump of 129.87 per cent.
According to Cranfield several factors may have contributed to the improvement they have had in SMSF engagement.
“It’s a very small sample size over a very short period of time and it could be down to the growth of our business, it could be down to a unique set of circumstances but it’s hard to ignore the amplification of the conversation around what is best done with SMSF money going forward with what the government is intending to introduce [such as the Division 296 tax],” he said.
“If we were looking to take a window into the future the data is saying to us SMSF members want income generating investments they can put into their portfolio and remove some of that unrealised gain risk [associated with the Division 296 tax measure].
“It seems this is something at the front of their mind,” he concluded.
