Skandia may be one of the newer players in Australian financial services, having only opened for business in 2001, but the firm does come with extensive experience.
According to Richard Borysiewicz, executive director and head of distribution, Skandia’s 150 years of history in Europe has seen it pioneer the concept of manager of manager funds.
“That’s our invention, our brainchild. It has since been copied, but our uniqueness is that we have global fund management relationships which are very deep and very long,” he says.
“We are the world’s oldest platform by a long-shot.”
Skandia is also unique in that its Australian business operation is platform-only.
“We don’t have funds management and we don’t have financial planning. The advisers like that because we have objectivity in our manager line-up. We are not tempted to put our own funds management businesses on,” Borysiewicz says.
“We can hire best-of-breed and we can fire when they are no longer best-of-breed, and that’s a very important attribute to have,” he adds.
Skandia is one of the Rising Stars according to Money Management’s research (see table p20), with about $1.5 billion in funds under management (FUM) — a massive 160 per cent increase in 12 months.
The firm is also looking at forming badging relationships in the near future. Borysiewicz explains: “We are currently in discussions with a few possible partners. It’s not a case of if we’ll do it, but when we’ll have our first one.”
Currently, four of Skandia’s products appear in the Top 20 list of fastest growers (see table p29), and a strategy for future business growth is already underway, with the launch of a term allocated pension product planned for mid-year, and the addition of new fund managers to the current offering.
In such a competitive market, how will the firm ensure its ongoing success?
According to Borysiewicz, “Ninety per cent of all new business flows into the top 10 platforms”.
He adds: “You’ve got to be in the top 10, and it’s certainly our objective to be in the top five of those top 10.”
— Larissa Tuohy
