AFS outsources investments

Australian Financial Services (AFS) has transferred $180 million to Russell Investment Group as part of a new strategy to outsource investments to established multi-manager providers.

Outsourcing to the global wholesale investment manager’s funds “signals a bold new strategy that will set the foundation for AFS’ strong growth in 2005”, according to chief executive Peter Daly.

“It will give planners the tools, support and framework they need to maximize value for clients, by freeing them from time-consuming administrative and portfolio rebalancing tasks,” he said.

Daly said outsourcing was emerging as a critical business decision for planners and dealer groups “jostling” to compete in Australia’s retail sector.

“Advisers are increasingly having to re-evaluate how they spend their time, and off-loading non-core, non value-adding activities is part of the solution,” Daly said.

The main factor underlying the dealer group’s decision to outsource to Russell’s multi-manager funds was being able to rely on solid and consistent investment returns, Daly said.

“Our experience is that returns from managed funds can be insufficient, and this factor has proved a hindrance in keeping up adviser support,” he said.

“We believe Russell’s proven approach to multi-manager investing and their global resources gives planners far better security of achieving expected returns over the long-term.”

“Volatile capital markets make it difficult and time consuming for a planner and client to continually rebalance back to the strategic asset allocation originally agreed.”