FirstChoice frizzes up for July 1
Colonial First State’s FirstChoice platform has been spruced up ahead of the July 1 arrival of super choice, with several manager and asset class additions, insurance premium discounts and two tools to reduce paperwork for contributing employers.
FirstChoice has gained exclusive retail access to Acadian Asset Management, a quant-based value manager which beat the MSCI World Index by 11.1 per cent over the five years to February 2005.
The platform has sought to appease advisers demanding higher income returns with a new enhanced yield category, manned initially by the Goldman Sachs JBWere Income Plus fund, the 452 Capital Absolute Income fund, and Colonial’s own Enhanced Yield fund.
Death and TPD insurance premiums have been reduced, while last month a tool known as SuperSplit was introduced, allowing employers to send a single file from which the platform would assume the task of redirecting contributions to multiple funds (for free, so long as not too many went elsewhere from FirstChoice). A direct credit facility was also introduced, to make contributions easier for employers whose default fund was not FirstChoice.
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