If you build it, will they come? What can Australia learn from the UK’s D2C wrap platform market?
The Australian and UK wealth markets have a lot in common… Retail platform markets which are both roughly A$600b in size Both now have compulsory defined contribution employer funded pension/superannuation saving systems1 Both have large and mature financial advice industries (albeit UK licensees are far more independently owned; this point becomes important further down) Both […]
Read more...It’s not easy being small
It’s not easy being small Friday saw the release of our 2014-15 Tria Super Funds Review with hard copies hitting desks this week. One of the themes highlighted is that despite the superannuation industry being very fragmented (the largest market share sits at just 5%), there is a distinct group of very large funds with […]
Read more...Avoiding the potholes on the road to MyPension
Retirement income was widely considered as the unfinished business of the Cooper Review. Last year’s Financial System Inquiry called for each super fund to implement a Comprehensive Income Product for Retirement (CIPR) that would provide income, longevity risk management, and flexibility, and argues that trustees are well placed to do so. But are most super […]
Read more...Looking at Magellan’s MGE structure
Magellan Financial Group has been an unquestionable Australian success in global equities asset management in recent years, the most significant since Kerr Nielsen’s Platinum Asset Management. Magellan has been proactive in addressing the major Australian retail channels and segments. Its LIC (ASX: MFF), and $8bn of unlisted funds, have been followed in in early March […]
Read more...Super switching – how much money changes hands each year?
When choice of super fund was introduced around a decade ago, there were predictions of mass switching by members, with negative consequences for default super funds. So what has been the experience? How much super AUM changes hand each year as members (and employers) change funds? For most super members, their super fund is chosen […]
Read more...Super market share – is the rise and rise of SMSFs over?
For the past decade, the market share story in super has been predictable, year in year out – SMSFs up, industry funds up, retail funds down, corporate funds down, public funds down slightly. For the first 8 years of that decade (2004-12), market shares (of super system net assets) moved as follows: Segment 2004 market […]
Read more...Flat insurance commissions: will it improve customer outcomes?
February 24, 2015 In the wake of FoFA, there is increasing acceptance that there will also be reform of retail life insurance commissions. There is coalescence around a move to flat commissions, despite the lack of common ground between stakeholders. Insurance advisers lack a coherent narrative, while insurers’ views are polarised based on their […]
Read more...How long does product development take?
11 February, 2015 Ask this question around the wealth and asset management industry, and you’ll find common answers include “forever” and “too bloody long”. Product development usually takes longer than most people expect. But it’s typically not a case of “how long is a piece of string”. There are solid benchmarks for different types […]
Read more...ETFs go vertical
February 4, 2015 While much of the wealth management industry was absorbed by the Financial System Inquiry and other regulation in 2014, ETFs quietly went vertical. You don’t often get to see a classic product “S” curve unfold outside of the technology industry, so watch this one. An S curve refers to the shape of […]
Read more...More good news for super funds – are outflows to SMSFs flattening out?
27 January, 2015 There are all sorts of interesting nuggets in the ATO’s SMSF data for the 2013 year released just prior to Christmas. Beyond showing how expensive SMSFs are, the data also shows 2013 as the weakest year for net inflows to SMSFs since at least 2006. Net inflows in 2013 were $10.2bn, down […]
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