The NZX-owned investment platform, Wealth Technologies, kicked above the $11 billion mark in September as solid investment markets and client transfers bolstered growth.
Notably, the Northland-based advisory firm, Yovich & Co, completed a full administration and custody shift to Wealth Technologies late in September in a move first flagged this June.
Yovich, which offers both wealth management advice and direct broking services, previously used a FNZ-based administration system.
In 2020 the Whangarei firm also struck a deal with long-established NZ investment software firm, Chelmer, to upgrade to a new cloud-based portfolio management service. Yovich already had a 20-year business relationship with Chelmer, which counted Craigs Investment Partners as a cornerstone client.
According to a NZX release, the Yovich transition went live on September 25 following a four-month process involving “comprehensive data and asset migration, as well as business transformation and platform functionality development”.
Yovich co-director, Jarrod Goodall, said in the statement that new administration capabilities would help the advisory business expand “without worrying about operational bottlenecks or limitations in terms of asset classes we can support”.
Headed by Lisa Turnbull, Wealth Technologies has secured five new clients in the first half of this year including several advisory firms and a biggish institutional win with the $200 million Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund.
In its half-year report released this August, the NZX hinted several other large software-as-a-service and custodial platform deals were on the table including late-stage talks with a “significant” potential client.
The NZX also told investors at the time that it had abandoned “discussions with a limited number of parties” to sell or co-invest in Wealth Technologies in light of improved growth prospects projected to double funds under administration this year and hit up to $50 billion in the medium term.
Also last week, national adviser services business, Consilium, unveiled broader and cut-price brokerage options for its wrap platform clients.
In a release, Consilium said the expanded offer would enable advisers to “access some of the lowest international brokerage fees” with charges ranging from 0.08 per cent for simple execution to 0.13 per cent for “high touch” service.
Under the new broker arrangements, advisers using Citibank via the platform would not face traditional minimum fees or trade size limits that can complicate investment decisions, according to Dayle Englebrecht, Consilium head of wrap solutions.
“Advisers want to use ETFs or direct international shares in their portfolios and within the KiwiWRAP KiwiSaver Scheme, but trading has been more difficult because they try to avoid minimum brokerage costs using pooling,” Englebrecht said in the release. “Using Citibank as their broker means trading portfolios using these types of investments is much simpler.”
However, Consilium wrap clients would be able to tap into a wide range of brokers following the service expansion, a spokesperson for the group said.
“We currently offer execution through Jarden but the new multi-broker capability available through FNZ now means we can introduce other brokers to provide advisers with greater choice,” the spokesperson said.
Direct global shares and exchange-traded funds represent more than $1.5 billion of the total $7.1 billion held on the FNZ-backed Consilium platform.
Consilium also planned to broaden low-cost brokerage to other global markets in Europe and Asia as well as cutting fees for trading Australasian stocks on-platform.