Nick Hamilton

OPEX Consulting Pty Ltd (OPEX) has announced a strategic partnership with Challenger to support the continued development and growth of the Informed Financial Future (iff) financial advice platform.

The platform is designed to help advisers generate comprehensive advice strategies faster and scale advice delivery more efficiently. The partnership with Challenger will also deliver modelling of lifetime income strategies for advisers supporting clients approaching or in retirement.

The partnership reflects a broader shift underway in advice technology: tightly integrated, productivity-focused platforms that reduce delivery time, improve consistency, and create capacity across advice businesses. Challenger’s involvement provides long-term backing and confidence in the ongoing investment behind iff, reinforcing the platform’s continuity and OPEX’s ability to continue building for the future.

OPEX established iff as a ‘trusted advice engine’ built to fit into the evolving advice tech stack – enabling advisers to streamline and scale advice processes, while supporting connected integrations across the ecosystem. The platform is designed to be leveraged by advice businesses and connected to by other technology providers, including emerging AI solutions, to help deliver more consistent, scalable advice outcomes.

With almost two decades of experience working alongside advice businesses, OPEX brings deep operational and regulatory understanding of how advice is delivered in practice and the capacity constraints that continue to challenge the industry.

OPEX remains independently owned and founder-led, with its strategy and product direction driven by an advice-first approach.

Paul Campbell, Managing Director, OPEX Consulting Pty Ltd, said: “We built iff as a trusted advice engine grounded in how advice is delivered in practice and the real constraints firms face – operationally, regulatorily, and commercially. This partnership supports our ability to keep investing in the platform and shaping the future advice tech stack.

“Challenger’s backing validates the long-term need for advice technology that puts capacity back into the system, while we remain founder-led and independent, focused on supporting advisers and making quality advice faster, simpler, and more affordable to deliver.”

The partnership will support continued investment in the platform and the broader product roadmap, including expansion across software, AI, and analytics capabilities, an ongoing focus on institutional-grade cybersecurity, and improved onboarding and change-management support for new clients.

Nick Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer, Challenger, said: “Our partnership with OPEX marks another step forward for Challenger and supports our focus on developing Australia’s retirement income market at scale. Making retirement income solutions integrate seamlessly into the financial advice ecosystem is a critical step in achieving this.

“We’re pleased to partner with OPEX and its iff advice platform to deliver retirement plans that are modelled with lifetime income. It will provide more support to financial advisers and their clients and ensure more Australians can retire with financial confidence.”

OPEX will share upcoming product enhancements and its AI strategy at its Roadmap Webinar on 4 March 2026, providing advisers with visibility into the future direction of the platform.

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Victor Rodriguez

Challenger Investment Management (Challenger IM), part of Challenger Limited, has today announced plans to launch an innovative first-of-its kind listed unsecured investment structure, Challenger IM LiFTS 1 Notes (Challenger IM LiFTS) to be quoted on the ASX.

Challenger IM LiFTS will provide Australian investors with a fixed term investment paying monthly interest payments (deferrable in certain circumstances), which will be paid from proceeds from a managed and diversified portfolio of credit exposures.

The launch marks a significant step in Challenger’s strategy to broaden access to income-generating investments and expand its presence in the listed debt market. It also signals the start of a new issuance program, designed to meet growing demand for private credit exposure in a more accessible format.

Victor Rodriguez, Chief Executive, Funds Management, said the launch was aligned with Challenger’s long-term growth plans and commitment to investment excellence.

“This is a strategic milestone for Challenger, and we’re thrilled to launch this innovative, first-of-its-kind note structure to the Australian market. It builds on our 20 years of experience investing in public and private credit and reflects our commitment to growing our listed retail presence with institutional grade income-focused solutions,” Mr Rodriguez said. “

With the growing demand for private credit, Challenger IM LiFTS aims to provide access to this asset class via an ASX-listed fixed term debt security. We have secured cornerstone commitments of $100 million in under 24 hours from its opening demonstrating strong market appetite for this product,” he said.

Challenger IM LiFTS offers a fixed term of seven years (with a target repayment date on the sixth anniversary of issue), monthly interest payments (deferrable in certain circumstances) and daily liquidity via the ASX. The interest rate payable is 1M BBSW + 2.75% per annum and includes a first loss buffer, designed to provide additional credit enhancement to noteholders. The underlying portfolio is expected to comprise of more than 100 credit exposures across private and public markets, with limits on individual positions and industry concentrations to support diversification.

Challenger IM is one of Australia’s most experienced credit managers with more than $16 billion1 in fixed income assets under management, and a strong track record of delivering risk-adjusted returns through multiple market cycles.

IM LiFTS is being brought to market by a syndicate including lead arrangers National Australia Bank, CommSec, E&P Financial and Morgans, with joint lead managers Ord Minnett, Wilsons, Canaccord and Taylor Collison.

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Notes:
[1] As at 31 March 2025 Challenger

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