Investment Services Group (ISG) subsidiaries, JMI Wealth and Select Wealth, have ramped up growth efforts with new staff hires this month as well as a platform diversification move for the latter.
The discretionary investment management service (DIMS) provider, Select, has named Stephen Hill in a newly created business development role while Joe Byrne joined the JMI Wealth investment advisory team.
Originally from the US, Byrne has a long history in the NZ financial advisory sector, most recently as adviser and chair of the Lifetime Group – the national group now a quarter-owned by the Booster Tahi Fund.
He previously served in similar roles with the Camelot advisory firm, which merged with Lifetime in 2018, after more than two years working for Booster (then known as Grosvenor) including a stint as head of investment solutions.
Based on the Kapiti Coast, Byrne will front the fifth JMI office – and the group’s third location outside the Auckland region.
JMI, another long-standing brand in the NZ financial services sector, has about $2.5 billion in assets under management and nine advisers as well as other investment specialists.
Meanwhile, Hill comes to Select from a contract role at AMP to help grow the firm’s recently launched KiwiSaver scheme. Prior to AMP he held a sales position at Southern Cross Health after emigrating from South Africa in 2017.
Select head, Debbie Tuddenham, said in a release that Hill would build on his existing financial advisory relationships in the new role.
“His appointment means we can do even more to support adviser businesses and really focus on growing their business, to grow our business,” Tuddenham said.
Launched late in 2020 under a scheme-hosting arrangement with the NZX-owned Smartshares, the Select KiwiSaver reported about $7 million under management and about 150 members at the end of last year. Targeting advisers who use the Select service, the KiwiSaver scheme taps into a similar multi-manager menu.
Although the Select KiwiSaver launched only with underlying Smartshares products, it now has a range of other funds including from associated ISG managers – Devon, Clarity and Tahito – as well as other third-party providers such as Fisher Funds, Milford Asset Management and Vanguard.
But on top of adding further sales resource, Select is also looking to broaden its distribution footprint by stepping into new platform territory. In a deal agreed this month, advisers can now access the Select range via the FNZ administration service.
Reflecting its historical ownership roots, Select was until now available exclusively on the MMC Wealth Administration platform (formerly known as Aegis). Both Select and Aegis were previously owned by the ASB.
Tuddenham said Select aimed to be “platform agnostic”.
“We know that for many reasons financial advisers can end up with client portfolios on multiple platforms so for us it made sense to partner with both administration platforms, meaning we can continue to provide the great service that we always have to more financial advisers, and more of their clients,” she said in a statement.
Select currently has agreements with over 100 financial advice providers.
JMI (know as JMIS at the time) took over the Select DIMS business from the-then ASB insurance subsidiary, Sovereign, in 2015 for undisclosed terms. Select now manages more than $900 million compared to $600 million when JMIS assumed control.
Since 2015, Select has also added to its model portfolio collection – most recently rolling out three ‘Positive Impact’ strategies – and assortment of approved stand-alone investments.
JMIS later joined the ISG conglomerate, reorganising under the JMI Wealth, Clarity Funds and Select Wealth banners.