Owners Advisory folds after founder death
Macquarie has announced it will be integrating the Owners Advisory automated advice offering into its wealth platform following the sudden death of its founder and chief investment officer, John O’Connell last week at age 53.
In an announcement, the Owners Advisory team said integrating the robo-advice service into the wealth platform would allow advisers to incorporate robo-advice into their value proposition for clients.
“Given Owners Advisory was powered by John’s personal investment philosophy and insights, unfortunately we will no longer be able to provide advice to direct investors through our website,” the statement said.
O’Connell started at Macquarie as a senior analyst in the 1990s, before becoming Macquarie’s global head of research, where be build a global research team.
“He was always at the cutting edge of new ideas, and nothing demonstrated this more than his decision to establish Owners Advisory to make professional grade, automated investment advice and services available online,” the statement said.
O’Connell launched Owners Advisory in February 2016 in a bid to target the 80 per cent of Australians who did not receive or seek financial advice, as well as to provide quality advice, market updates and insights available to do-it-yourself and self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) investors.
Recommended for you
Platform HUB24 has reported $100 billion funds under administration in its latest quarterly results, helped by a 90 per cent rise in platform net inflows.
Progressing digital advice and seeking breakeven in the advice division are part of AMP’s goals for the upcoming financial year as it approaches 1,000 financial advisers in its licensee.
The Rask Group, in partnership with InvestSMART’s new investment platform, has announced three ETF strategies, aimed at empowering financial advisers to create and manage their own ETF portfolios.
Research by Wealth Data has found exactly half the number of advisers who have worked at closed AFSLs in the current financial year remain on the ASIC FAR.
