Boutique firm to drop platforms for managed account model

The ongoing development of managed accounts has led to a boutique Melbourne financial planning firm replacing its wrap platforms and self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) administration service with a managed discretionary account (MDA). 

Moran Howlett Financial Planning, which holds its own licence and services 350 clients with $160 million in assets under advice has stated it will transition away from the Asgard platform, the Macquarie Wrap and Class Super SMSF software to an MDA provided by managedaccounts.com.au. 

Co-founder of the practice Paul Moran said the majority of the firm’s funds under advice would be administered under the MDA structure within the next few years with the move designed to achieve lower administration workload for the firm and also lower administration costs for clients. 

“Over the years, platforms have been useful but they don’t incorporate term deposits into their models, and their integration of managed funds and shares is weak. As a result, we’ve been managing over 400 individual term deposits which are monitored and renewed with ongoing client correspondence,” Moran said. 

“Our clients automatically expect us to make those sorts of investment decisions on their behalf and they don’t understand why we have to keep asking them. It’s our single biggest administration burden.” 

Moran said the absence of managed account capabilities through the major platform providers would continue to drive the shift of planners seeking these options for themselves particularly as industry debate shifts away from commissions and regulatory reform to a focus on client service. 

“I’m not confident the big platforms will be able to deliver the right functionality because platforms try to be all things to all people and that naturally involves compromises,” Moran said. 

managedaccounts.com.au chief executive David Heather said his group was stated '’pleased to have been selected by Moran Howlett to deliver a managed account solution. We are particularly pleased that our ability to create a solution specific to Moran Howlett’s requirements has been the key criteria in managedaccounts.com.au being selected’’.