Philip Kewin

As demand grows for the availability of risk products on platforms, HUB24 advocates that a choice of insurers is important for advisers and their clients given the significant price and feature differences of many products.

In response to this demand, HUB24 is pleased to bring a third retail insurance provider to its market leading super and IDPS platforms. Zurich’s Wealth Protection product complements the existing personal insurers TAL and AIA providing another choice for advisers and their clients.

“Modern platforms like HUB24 are maturing into broader structures that are committed to providing more choice for advisers. Advisers have always had a choice of insurer for their clients outside of platforms and now seek the same choice for their clients within platforms to take advantage of an end-to-end solution. Typically, platform insurance offers have been limited to the ‘house brand’ denying clients an efficient solution with real choice.  Advisers bring their own risk expertise to assist clients, to give them the best options that suit their personal needs.” said Andrew Alcock, Chief Executive Officer, HUB24.

“Zurich’s insurance offering has won major industry awards and we’re pleased to add another quality risk provider for access through HUB24 inside or outside superannuation.”

“Like our other insurers, Zurich is making a solid commitment to working in partnership with us and dealer groups to provide exceptional service to our advisers and their clients.” said Andrew.

Zurich’s General Manager, Retail Life & Investments, Philip Kewin, also acknowledged the importance of the partnership, which comes at a time when household budget pressure is increasing the appeal of platforms to consumers.

“From a client’s perspective, the cash flow advantages of holding cover on platform are becoming increasingly appealing,” said Mr Kewin.

“With an estimated 40% of individual risk premiums now written through platforms, we believe the timing of our new partnership with HUB24 is perfect.

“Zurich was recently announced as the joint winner of Canstar’s Outstanding Value award for life insurance, and we are pleased to be able to bring such a quality offering to users of the HUB24 platform.

Thanks to this partnership, advisers now have more ways to deliver quality risk advice to clients, affordably and efficiently,” he said.

The post HUB24 adds Zurich as a third individual insurance provider appeared first on AdviserVoice.

HUB recently released its results for 30 June 2014 with FUA of $854 million as at that date. In the quarter ending 30 June we recorded net inflows[1] of $118 million and in the subsequent months of July and August we achieved net inflows combined of $112 million.  Compared to the PCP this is an increase of 50.4%.

The company also reported an increase in the number of active advisers of 46% from FY13 to FY14.

The post HUB24 passes $1bn milestone appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Damien Mu

AIA Australia’s expansion of its Priority Protection insurance range on investment platforms continues, with AIA Vitality available for purchase on PPPI policies from yesterday.

Investors looking to secure life insurance cover will now be able to purchase AIA Vitality on platforms that include Asgard, HUB24, LifeFocus, Personal Choice Private, PowerWrap, Portfolio Care, and netwealth. It will also be available on the IOOF Pursuit platform later this year.

AIA Vitality Is available through financial advisers, and rewards members with points for displaying healthy behaviour, including discounts on shopping, entertainment and travel purchases, and discounts on eligible insurance premiums.

AIA Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Damien Mu, said the integration of AIA Vitality with PPPI on these platforms will allow more advisers to purchase it through their preferred platform.

“We know that platforms are becoming an increasingly popular business channel for advisers to write risk, so we’ve got to make sure we tailor our products accordingly”, Mr. Mu said. “AIA Vitality has made a huge difference in helping advisers change the conversation around life insurance with their clients and we want to make the program more accessible for them. Platforms will help us do this.”

According to recent statistics from the Investment Trends Planner Risk Report for June 2014, the proportion of risk written on platforms has remained steady over the last 12 months at 38% and is expected to remain steady into 2015. Looking forward, 80% of planners say they intend to use platforms for risk in the next 12 months[1]. Platforms help advisers to streamline their administrative and compliance requirements when writing risk products, and offer a more competitive range of insurance products to complement their client’s investments.

Matt Heine, Executive Director at netwealth Investment Limited, said: “AIA Vitality is unlike any other program in the market at the moment, and we’re confident it will appeal to our advisers and clients. We like the fact that it helps people to improve their health and get rewarded for it, but it also increases their overall engagement with life insurance and superannuation.”

The post AIA Vitality debuts on adviser platforms appeared first on AdviserVoice.

HUB24 acquires Paragem.

HUB24  is pleased to announce it has executed an agreement to acquire the independently owned financial planning licensee Paragem Pty Ltd (Paragem).

Paragem is a leading boutique dealer group, founded by Ian Knox and Charlie Haynes that has grown strongly to license 20 high quality financial advisory practices across Australia, which advise on more than $2.5 billion of client funds.

HUB24 and Paragem are highly complementary with minimal overlap and share a common goal to create strong financial advice practices and a platform group not aligned to product manufacturers. With over 40 years of combined industry experience, Mr Knox and Mr Haynes will continue to grow the Paragem business and add significant depth of experience to the HUB24 executive team.

Transaction highlights

• HUB24 has executed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in Paragem.
• Completion is planned to occur over the next few weeks subject to satisfaction of conditions precedent including that acquisition arrangements are agreed between Paragem advisers and HUB24 to the satisfaction of the parties.
• Cash consideration of $1m at completion with a deferred cash payment at 12 months of up to $1m (subject to customary adjustments) to be funded from existing cash resources.
• Capped earnout consideration of up to an additional $6m subject to financial performance measured over 3 years and paid in HUB24 ordinary shares no later than 30 September 2017 (with the number of shares determined by reference to the 60 day VWAP until today’s announcement of 92.47 cents).
• Paragem is currently self-funding and has been cashflow positive over the past two financial years.
• The Paragem business had gross revenues (inclusive of payments to advisers) of $20.2m in FY14, has operated on a break even basis and is in a strong growth phase.
• Ian Knox and Charlie Haynes will enter into executive service agreements – remuneration and performance incentives will be similar to existing HUB24 executives.

The acquisition of Paragem is consistent with HUB24’s strategy to pursue significant growth by partnering with quality independently minded financial advisers (IFAs).  Working together with Paragem and HUB24’s existing highly valued advice licensees, the company will continue to develop solutions for the benefit of the IFA market and consumers. Given the level of industry consolidation occurring in the licensee space, HUB24 is pleased to be able to work with Paragem, whilst continuing to strengthen existing relationships. Together we will provide a compelling home for like-minded financial advisers who value choice and the ability to freely run their own business, while working with HUB24 to develop better, more cost effective client outcomes.

Both HUB24 and Paragem will retain their existing brands and will continue to operate independently. Importantly, Paragem will retain its open architecture approach to approved products and platforms and HUB24 will maintain its focus on supporting the growth and prosperity of its existing licensee clients and pursuing new client opportunities with its market-leading platform solution.

HUB24 CEO Andrew Alcock stated, “We see this acquisition as being consistent with HUB24’s core proposition of providing high value services to licensees and advisers. We were also determined to ensure any entry into the advice space would result in a further enhancement of HUB24’s rapid growth, diversification of the company’s revenue stream and continued improvements to platform functionality, which will be highly valued by the broader IFA market. In addition to providing our HUB24 retail products to advisers, we will continue to focus on our core business providing white labels to financial planning groups, accountants and stockbrokers whilst also developing and supporting the Paragem business”.

He added, “HUB24’s platform will enable Paragem advisers to act in the best interests of their clients. We offer a pathway to a broad investment universe, free of product issuer conflict, utilising direct securities, managed accounts, traditional managed funds as well as multiple term deposit and insurance providers. We are not aligned with product manufacturers and therefore not constrained in the products we offer.”

Paragem Managing Director, Ian Knox, agreed saying “Paragem’s client base is well suited to Separately Managed Account (SMAs) investments that are professionally constructed and managed and we reviewed the entire market before determining HUB24 was the most suitable partner. We wanted to embrace an independent technology-based product provider at the forefront of SMAs and managed accounts, not one that was just thinking about the concept.”

An important consideration in acquiring Paragem is the cultural alignment between the two businesses. The fusion of advice and technology supports the ability to deliver exceptional customer service outcomes and adviser practice efficiency. In addition, both Paragem and HUB24 understand the importance of existing relationships and the acquisition is not expected to alter these in any way.

The post HUB24 to acquire boutique licensee Paragem appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Commenting further on the results, Alcock said, “This boosted FUA at the end of the quarter to $730.2m, and represents a growth rate of 120% over the past 12 months. This strong growth continued into April with FUA reaching $781m and Net Inflows of $47.6m for the month”.

“These increased flows are from HUB24’s existing client base, as well as initial new flows from the white label IDPS versions of the platform launched in December 2013 for Premium Wealth Management, Interprac and Total Financial Solutions.  Inflows are expected to accelerate for these groups as the superannuation white labels were launched during April and the full HUB24 product suite is now available for advisers to meet client needs”.

“Revenue associated with our increasing FUA has allowed HUB to achieve its maiden month of positive Gross Profit in March 2014. Gross Profit is defined as per the company’s statutory annual accounts and represents the profit from platform revenue after direct platform operating costs”.

Highlights of HUB24’s results for the March 2014 quarter were –

• Record Net Inflows[1] in the March quarter of $108.7m.
• FUA growth of 120% from $332.2m at 31 March 2013 to $730.2m at 31 March 2014.
• Momentum of Net Inflows continuing in April with FUA at $781m.
• Positive Gross Profit for March.
• HUB24 ranked 3^rd for Product Offering in the latest Investment Trends Platform Benchmarking  Report.
• R&D Tax Incentive refund of $414k received from the ATO.
• Cash and cash equivalents of $14.9m (as at 30 April 2014 unaudited). The company has no plans to raise any additional capital.

1.Net Inflows represents gross inflows during the period and does not include any market movement

The post HUB24 announces solid march quarter appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Perpetual Investments Direct Equity Alpha Portfolio is now available to all financial advisers that access the HUB24 platform.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr Entwistle said the addition of the Perpetual Investments SMA brings to over 150 the total number of SMA/Managed Portfolios on the HUB24 investment and superannuation platform managed by 45 investment managers, asset consultants and dealer groups. This represents the largest menu of Managed Portfolios available on any platform in Australia.

This is in addition to the more than 800 wholesale managed funds, 1,000 listed securities, and multiple term deposit and insurance options, including the recently added AIA retail life insurance products.

“HUB24’s market leading SMA/Managed Portfolio functionality, provides financial advisers with a unique product alternative, offering significant cost and tax efficiencies over traditional managed fund solutions,” said Mr Entwistle.

“It also provides asset consultants and fund managers such as Perpetual Investments with a new channel to distribute their services, while allowing them to manage the protection of intellectual property.”

HUB24 was established by a team with a long heritage of technology innovation within financial services, and represents state of the art platform development. The solution offers a comprehensive range of investment options across superannuation and investment, superior transaction and reporting, and is suitable for all types of investors – individuals, companies, trusts, associations or self-managed super funds.

Mr Entwistle, added, “We are delighted that a fund manager of the calibre of Perpetual Investments has selected HUB24 to host their SMA. This underscores our great result in the recent Investment Trends platform report, ranking us in the top tier of platforms, and foremost for innovation.”

“To ensure HUB24 maintains its marketplace advantage and position, we plan to roll out several new enhancements and initiatives over the remainder of 2013.”

The post HUB24 Platform adds Perpetual SMA appeared first on AdviserVoice.

The HUB24 platform is used by a growing number of financial advisers to access, manage and purchase clients’ investments and risk policies online.

The partnership with HUB24 is the third platform linkup AIA Australia has established in the past two years, as the insurer continues to develop products and services for this growing segment.  Advisers looking to reduce their administrative loads, and facing the added responsibility of regulatory compliance have been a catalyst for growth in the platform market, with a third of risk business being written through platforms.[1]

General Manager of Life Insurance, Damien Mu, said building the company’s platform partnerships was a priority for AIA Australia in its drive to support advisers by reducing their administrative load and giving them more client-facing time.

“Platforms are a rapidly growing business channel for advisers because of their functionality,” Mr. Mu said. “As a dedicated partnering specialist, it’s important AIA Australia continues to innovate in this area and make it as easy as possible for our adviser partners to manage their clients’ policies.”

Acting CEO Jason Entwistle from HUB24 said the addition of AIA Australia to the platform’s product list had been driven by feedback from advisers looking for greater choice of products.

“Writing retail insurance via a platform makes a lot of sense for advisers and it’s important that platform operators offer advisers sufficient choice to enable them to select the most appropriate solution for each client,” said Mr. Entwistle.

Mr. Mu said the focus would continue to be on building strong partnerships to assist advisers and strengthen new distribution channels in the months ahead.

“AIA Australia is continually finding new ways to improve its partnership model with platform providers like HUB24, and we expect this to be a strong development area for us over the year. We’re currently in talks with a number of platform providers who are looking to differentiate their offer with multiple insurance partners and, in such a growing segment, this is a great way to offer further business support for financial advisers,” Mr. Mu concluded.

_____

[1] Source: Coredata 2011 Risk Survey

The post AIA Australia partners with HUB24 to provide award winning Priority Protection insurance for advisers appeared first on AdviserVoice.

“Wes brings 25 years industry experience and a wealth of knowledge in the retail and institutional platform distribution space, and we are delighted he has joined us at a time of significant change and opportunity” said acting CEO Jason Entwistle.
 
Wes has a strong track record in delivering growth in Funds Under Administration after leading ASGARD Wealth Solutions white label platform business through dealers and institutions, before managing sales teams at ING Australia, Skandia, KPMG and FuturePlus.
 
HUB24 has rated well in recent industry reviews around nimble functionality development and service, and continues its steady growth trajectory.  Wes will focus efforts on the non-aligned dealer market looking for best of breed functionality and competitive pricing.

The post New sales head for HUB24 appeared first on AdviserVoice.

• Revenue for the half year of $4.55m, up 50%
• Net loss before tax for the half year of $6.476m, an improvement of 8% on the half year ended 31 December 2011
• Cash of $10.5m with no debt
• Funds under administration on the HUB24 platform at 31 December 2012 of $256m up from $120m as at 30 June 2012, an increase of 110%.

The HUB24 investment and superannuation platform continues to grow strongly with current funds under administration at the date of this announcement of $315m. Adoption of the platform by financial advisers is expected to increase with the March release of direct market access share trading functionality.

Further significant product releases are planned in the near future. 

As previously announced to the market in December 2012, the company agreed to divest the stockbroking business to Wilson HTM to focus wholly on the HUB24 platform. This agreement resulted in the transfer of a number of Investorfirst clients, advisers and analysts to Wilson HTM on 8 February 2013.

Wilson HTM and Investorfirst have also agreed to work together to deliver a white label version of the HUB24 platform and also a custom version of the HUB24 platform with the intention to transfer $1.4b of Funds Under Administration (FUA) to HUB24 over the next 12‐ 24 months, subject to completion of due diligence and agreement of final commercial terms. 

During the half year the company completed a capital raising of $8.3m providing additional capital to meet the expenditure requirements of the HUB24 platform and ensure regulatory capital compliance.

In commenting on the result, Mr Bruce Higgins, Chairman of Investorfirst, said “While the loss for the period is disappointing, we have repositioned the business to focus wholly on the HUB24 investment and superannuation platform and in the process have significantly reduced operating expenses. HUB24 is experiencing strong demand from financial advisory groups seeking an independently owned, advanced technology platform solution, particularly those interested in our market leading managed accounts functionality. We have a firm belief that HUB24 is well placed to significantly grow our market share as an independent alternative to the major bank owned platforms.”

The post Investorfirst results show strong growth appeared first on AdviserVoice.

The post S&P Three-Star ‘NEW’ Rating for Glennon Capital Small Companies Portfolio appeared first on AdviserVoice.