The investment research and managed account provider has announced several new tailored products, expanding its managed account footprint across Australia.
This includes the recent rollout of its Essentials portfolios on Insignia Expand in July. According to Steven Tang, head of portfolio solutions at Zenith, this addition will enable a broader range of financial advisers to access its portfolio management experience and internal capabilities.
“The Essentials portfolios are designed to achieve their return objectives with lower risk across all markets and time frames, using a combination of active managed funds and lower cost options such as index funds,” he explained.
“Improving accessibility of our off-the-shelf portfolios has been a big driver of the expansion of our platform footprint, and our public menu portfolios are now available across 10 platforms, making our range of portfolios widely accessible across major platforms.”
Moreover, Zenith recently launched several customised portfolios for Adelaide-based boutique advice practice FinSec Partners.
Andrew Creaser, partner at FinSec Partners, said the firm’s transition to an outsourced model will allow for greater efficiency benefits through Zenith’s tailored portfolio.
“The decision to move to a customised managed account was a significant one for our business. We spent time building confidence in Zenith’s people managing the portfolio, their portfolio construction methodology and their tailored approach, ensuring it aligned with ours. The transition process to date has been very straightforward and well-supported,” Creaser commented.
Zenith currently manages $5.3 billion in client assets across public menus and customised managed account portfolios.
Earlier this year, the Institute of Managed Account Professionals’ conference detailed how managed accounts are a key avenue for advisers looking to scale up their practice.
“You can see the benefits – increased time with clients, increased revenue per client, increased number of clients per adviser. Firms that have implemented managed accounts really well have achieved those benefits,” said Kyle Lidbury, head of investment research at Perpetual Private, at the event.
For practices that haven’t adopted managed accounts, Lidbury warned how this could impact clients, such as long delay times between an investment change being made versus when it’s reflected in the client’s portfolio.
“If you’re not running a scaleable practice, it’s not just limiting your own growth, but it’s actually also opening yourself up to questions from your clients as well,” he added.
