Australia Ratings Pty Ltd (Australia Ratings) has announced the sale of its investment ratings division, Australia Ratings Analytics Pty Ltd (ARA) to Sydney-based Foresight Analytics Pty Ltd (Foresight).

ARA was a division of Australia Ratings that assigned investment ratings to managed funds, separately managed accounts (SMAs) and insurance bonds. The investment ratings staff of ARA have transitioned to Foresight and the investment rating service will continue to operate in a similar manner albeit under its new brand of Foresight Analytics. Foresight Analytics Pty Ltd is managed by Jay Kumar, a former executive of Morningstar Australia.

Australia Ratings will continue to offer credit rating and risk services to the Australian market. Australia Ratings provides credit ratings and assessments on corporate, financial and government entities as well as debt and listed hybrid securities. It will also continue to operate other ancillary services such as assessment of resource companies and credit risk training services.

Australia Ratings’ Managing Director, Chris Dalton, said “We commenced the ARA business to provide investment ratings of funds, SMAs, and investment bonds to financial planners and wealth advisory groups. Having established a successful presence in the research market, we believe the transfer of the business to Foresight will allow it to accelerate its growth trajectory”.

The focus of Australia Ratings will be on credit ratings and related services, which are valued by investors and other market participants to help them understand the features and quality of a range of debt products. “Investors will also continue to benefit from Australia Ratings’ unique product complexity indicator, which gives investors a clear and simple guide to the complexity of the security, complementing our credit ratings”, Mr. Dalton added.

Australia Ratings is one of six credit rating agencies that holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL). It is the only Australian-owned credit rating agency that holds a retail AFSL. As such, Australia Ratings is the only ratings agency in Australia licensed to assign credit ratings to debt securities and products offered to retail investors in Australia.

The post Australian Ratings announces sale of investment ratings division to Foresight Analytics appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Michael Blake

Centuria LifeGoals, Centuria Life’s new investment bonds product, has been awarded a rating of ‘Very Strong’ by Australia Ratings. Centuria Life is part of specialist investment manager Centuria Capital Group (Centuria, ASX: CNI).

The ‘Very Strong’ ranking reflects the ratings agency’s “very strong level of confidence that the product can deliver a well-managed, robust investment structure to investors”.

LifeGoals, which launched in February this year, offers 22 high-quality complementary fund options – including sector, diversified and index funds – managed by rigorously selected investment managers. The offering has a transparent fee structure, in which all rebates are passed on to the investor, and offers a simple, flexible and tax effective investment vehicle.

Michael Blake, Head of Centuria Life, said: “The Australia Ratings report recognises ‘a modern take on the traditional investment bond structure that has achieved its objective of being a product that can provide investment, tax planning and estate planning in one solution’.

We feel this rating is a fair and accurate reflection of our offering. The report notes that ‘The benefit to investors is that the Investment Options are selected from a wide universe of available investment funds based on a rigorous due diligence process’ and this has always been our aim – to offer investment options that are consistently amongst the best available in each asset class to make it simpler for investors to choose.”

A solution for the times

Mr Blake believes that appetites around investments are changing – for the better – and that it is the responsibility of financial service providers to respond – or lose out. Due to their tax effective nature and ease of access to funds, investment bonds should be combined with superannuation as a part of most individuals long-term wealth creation plans. “Investors and financial planners demand greater fee transparency, access to high-quality managers and simplicity in their financial products. Today, products will succeed or fail based on merit, and investors expect total control and ease of use. We are delighted that Australia Ratings recognises that LifeGoals was designed for investors with this front of mind.”

Chris Dalton, Managing Director of Australia Ratings, said: “The Centuria LifeGoals product is a well thought out product that will appeal to many investors and financial planners as a viable complement to superannuation as a long-term savings product with the added flexibility of accessibility to funds.”

The post Centuria ‘LifeGoals’ awarded ‘Very Strong’ by Australia Ratings appeared first on AdviserVoice.