Australia’s leading online broker for advisers, CommSec Adviser Services, and platform powerhouse Colonial First State (CFS), have joined forces to develop an innovative new investment service for financial advisers.
Portfolio Service draws on the strengths of the two businesses to create a new way for advisers to manage their clients’ investments, with a high level of efficiency by reducing and automating administration and reporting requirements. It has been designed for the fee-for-service environment but is flexible to support a wide range of advice fee models.
Both CommSec Adviser Services and Colonial First State will offer the new Portfolio Service which will provide advisers access to a wide range of investments and products through a user-friendly state-of-the-art online portal. Listed securities, cash, managed funds and term deposits will be available on initial launch with managed accounts to be available in the future.
CommSec Adviser Services General Manager Eric Blewitt said: “By bringing together the strengths of the two businesses, we can now offer advisers an investment management solution that will increase their efficiency and control, and importantly allow them to provide a better service to their clients. Aimed at advisers who have high net worth clients with direct share ownership, the service’s flexible à la carte model allows advisers to tailor the product set for each individual client.”
Additionally, cash and listed securities are held directly in the client’s name, appealing to advisers whose clients are seeking a high degree of control and transparency such as self-managed superannuation funds. With the ability for clients to view their portfolios they can remain connected to their advised investments.
“We believe there is nothing like this available for advisers that offers such an extensive range of product and investment options, supported by such a powerful suite of platform-like administration and reporting tools. Client, adviser and dealer group level reporting, model portfolio management, online corporate actions and IPOs, tax optimisation tools and third party data feeds sit across all the products in the service, serving to drive efficiency and control for advisers,” Mr Blewitt said.
Colonial First State General Manager, Products & Investments, Peter Chun said almost 50 per cent of Australian advisers currently use Colonial First State platforms with Portfolio Service adding to the range of flexible solutions already meeting the needs of different business models.
“Portfolio Service will be Colonial First State’s third administration solution for advisers to complement our FirstChoice and FirstWrap platforms, while targeting the needs of advised high net worth clients and the SMSF market by supporting directly held assets and offering access to a broad range of asset types and a full range of portfolio reporting,” Mr Chun said.
“CFS is pleased to bring a solution to market which combines our strengths with those of CommSec Adviser Services. Portfolio Service not only addresses the diverse needs of our advisers, but also delivers them efficiency and a great customer experience.”
Specifically developed for the fee-for-service environment, Portfolio Service will launch with an annual flat administration fee. This positions it as a cost-effective solution in the market, with a range of flexible adviser and licensee fee charging options to ensure the solution supports a wide range of advice fee models.