BT Wrap has signed a three-year agreement with Merrill Lynch to provide a badged platform investment solution, the seventh agreement BT Wrap has signed this year.

Head Chris Freeman said the Merrill Lynch-badged version of BT Investment Wrap would provide Merrill Lynch financial advisers with access to more than 700 managed funds and support its domestic wealth management strategy.

BT Wrap’s ‘open architecture’ platform means Merrill Lynch financial advisers will have “access to one of the most extensive investment menus in the market”, he said.

“While recent market volatility has seen many investors divert their investments to cash, we are now beginning to see these flows return to the other asset classes, and Merrill Lynch planners will now be well equipped to structure their client’s portfolio to meet this demand."

The head of Merrill Lynch global wealth management for Australia and NZ, Chris Selby, said BT Wrap would enhance the range of Australian investment products and services available to the firm’s high-net-worth (HNW) client base.

“BT Wrap complements our existing global open architecture platform and gives us the opportunity to offer clients a vast array of Australian domiciled managed funds in addition to this international offering," he said.

“We expect significant interest from our advisers in the full suite of managed fund options for our HNW client portfolios.”