New master trust to offer adviser equity

PlatinumChoice Portfolio Services, the new master trust to be administered by Norwich owned Navigator, will be offering an equity stake to select groups of advisers following a national launch to be held in the next few months.

The new master trust is initially being offered only to Borgiorno and Garnaut financial advisers, but PlatinumChoice director Chris Garnaut says the fund will be offered to other independent advisers, who will have an opportunity to engage in equity participation.

“Ultimately [Borgiorno and Garnaut financial advisers] will represent a small percentage of the business as other advisers begin using the service,” he says.

“A number of independent groups have already expressed interest in using this service.”

Garnaut says the plan to develop PlatiniumChoice started about two years ago as a way of giving advisers a way of owning a master trust and becoming involved in the strategic direction, while also meeting the needs of high-net worth clients.

The company’s chief executive, Richard Carter, has worked with both Borgiorno and Garnaut in establishing the framework for the new master trust. Carter previously worked at Norwich Union.

PlatinumChoice will offer independent advisers access to a number of specialist boutique fund managers, in addition to the more traditional managers on the Navigator menu.

“We will identify specialist boutique funds to compliment the mainstream institutional fund managers presently on the Navigator menu,” says Garnaut.

“These specialist boutique fund managers will have the qualities of a BT, Colonial and Perpetual of yesteryear, that does include many of their former key staff, and we believe this will represent a significant point of differentiation.”