Jason Brown

Boutique advice practice Provident Advisory has launched a range of tailored managed investment accounts on BT Panorama, as part of its business strategy to achieve greater efficiency and focus on client-facing activities.

The new managed portfolios invest in defensive and growth asset classes, including international and Australian equities.

Currently there are over 375 managed portfolios on BT Panorama. Funds under administration in managed portfolios have increased by 33% in the past 12 months, and comprise 14% of total FUA of $108.9bn on the platform.^[1]

Jason Brown, Head of Distribution at BT, said: “We aim to be advisers’ platform provider of choice, and are pleased that Provident Advisory have chosen BT Panorama for their managed accounts suite.”

Mr Brown said that the potential time savings from using managed accounts will help Provident Advisory increase its focus on client-facing activities, citing the latest Investment Trends research which indicates that advisers and support staff save around 17 hours per week on average.^[2]

“Managed accounts continue to be in high demand because they can drive business efficiencies, resulting in time savings, and freeing up advisers so they can spend more time with clients,” Mr Brown said.

Provident Advisory is a boutique financial advice and wealth management practice catering to Queensland-based clients. Bruce Gorry, Managing Director, said they recently established their own Australian Financial Services Licence, and a key priority was to adopt smart technology to streamline their investment and research processes, saving time and reducing administrative burden.

Mr Gorry said: “It’s been a great journey, and now watching the plans come together is immensely satisfying. The transition proved to be swift – we obtained our AFSL in September 2023 and the managed accounts launched in December 2023. It’s exciting to embrace technology which is tailored to our business needs, and the productivity increase we are seeing now is pleasing.”

Matthew Malhi, Investment Director of Provident Advisory, said the new managed portfolios allow Provident Advisory to meet the diverse needs of its clients, and can make intergenerational planning more efficient. “The evolution of technology in the advice profession has transformed how financial advice is delivered. We can be more attentive to clients, especially families where the client base spans multiple generations, each with distinct and varying needs.”

DNR Capital and Morningstar are the investment managers of the Provident Advisory managed accounts.

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Jason Brown

Two managed account product suites managed by Evergreen are now available on BT Panorama, tailored to the needs of two separate advice practices who are seeking efficiency to drive further business growth.

Currently there are 372 managed portfolios on BT Panorama, with the addition of 76 products in 2023 so far. Funds under administration in managed accounts comprise 15% of total FUA of $104bn on the platform.1

Jason Brown, Head of Distribution at BT, said: “It’s fantastic to be part of the growth story of our clients. While each advice practice is unique, what they do have in common is they are both thriving and seeking further efficiencies by making the most of product innovations. We aim to be advisers’ platform provider of choice, and are pleased that, together with investment manager Evergreen, we have launched managed accounts that suit the needs of their business and client base.”

Gild Group

Gild Wealth is the financial planning arm of rapidly expanding professional services business, The Gild Group. Originating from Melbourne, the Gild Group has expanded interstate and has offices in NSW and Queensland. The firm takes a multi-disciplinary approach, providing financial advice as well as accounting and legal services, and advice on research and development incentives and grants. Gild Wealth’s revenue has increased by around 20% annually over the last two years.

The new Gild Wealth managed portfolios on BT Panorama include growth and conservative options, and are in addition to the existing managed accounts that Evergreen already manage for the Gild Group.

David Page, Director of the Gild Group, said the business recognised many years ago that the “old-style” model portfolios provided poor outcomes for clients and advisers, due to the time lags in implementation, labour-intensive production of advice documents and processes relating to compliance.

Mr Page said: “Over the last couple of years we have managed to grow Gild Wealth significantly without adding staff. This can only be achieved through efficiency gains, and managed accounts have been a key driver of that. In addition, our reporting to clients is more accurate and meaningful. We are able to manage risk and make strategic tilts quickly and efficiently.”

Thornton

Across two decades, South Australian advice practice, Thornton, has grown to manage $1bn in funds for over 1,500 clients.

The True managed portfolio options, developed for Thornton, include growth, balanced and low growth diversified portfolios.

Rowan Fielke, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Thornton, believes the firm’s transition to managed account solutions is boosting operational efficiencies and business growth, and building stronger client relationships by giving them the best of breed solutions in wealth management.

Mr Fielke added that the enhanced efficiencies of these portfolio options allow Thornton to continually meet the evolving needs of clients by providing dynamic portfolio management to improve transparency, relationships and overall experience with the firm and the platform.

He said: “Our tailored managed account solutions with BT Panorama have been strategically designed to enhance our operational efficiencies, foster innovation and create sustainable business growth, and we look forward to continuing to run our successful client portfolios on this platform.”

Evergreen

Evergreen partnered with both advice practices to build their product suites, employing their deep in-house qualitative and quantitative expertise, which includes exclusive tools such as stress and scenario testing to assist advice practices with their decisions.

Founder and Director, Angela Ashton, said: “We work closely with financial advisers to ensure the tailored investment solutions deliver flexibility, efficiency and an enhanced client experience.”

Ms Ashton continued: “Evergreen prides itself on the depth and quality of its resources, and all of these are targeted at just one thing: helping advisory firms build resilient portfolios.”

With an experienced investment team and asset allocation committee, the investment manager has developed a strong approach to dynamic asset allocation. In addition, the firm has developed sophisticated in-house tools in areas such as style analysis, stress and scenario testing, as well as attribution analysis.

“We’re proud to be partnering with two high quality financial advice practices in Gild Group and Thornton, as well as BT Panorama, to deliver investment solutions we know will make a difference to both the end client and those businesses,” Ms Ashton said.

Evergreen has total funds under management exceeding $1.5bn.

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[1] As of 31 October 2023. Managed accounts FUA excludes Adviser Portfolios.

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Jason Brown

BT has announced the launch of the Activam Group managed account on BT Panorama – adding to the 300-plus managed portfolios on BT Panorama.^[1]

The launch of the new product continues the unabated growth of separately managed accounts (SMAs) on BT Panorama, with advisers showing a strong preference for investing in diversified portfolios in recent years. In 2018, the proportion of funds under administration (FUA) in managed portfolios on BT Panorama which were invested in diversified portfolios was 51%; since then, this proportion has steadily grown to 90%.3 Over 30 managed portfolios have been added to BT Panorama in calendar year 2023, all of which are diversified.

FUA in BT’s managed portfolios increased by 18%^[2] in the year to 31 August 2023; and managed portfolios comprise 13% of BT Panorama’s total FUA (excluding Tailored Portfolios and Adviser Portfolios).

Activam Group is an investment firm with total funds under management and advice exceeding $5bn.

The new SMA will initially be made available for the client base of Right Advice Wealth Management, and is a continuation of the two-year relationship between the investment manager and financial planning firm.

Right Advice’s objective was to find a wealth management solution that provided investment opportunities in diversified asset classes, at a more competitive cost for their clients.

Jason Brown, Head of Distribution, BT, said: “BT aims to be the platform partner of choice and, as part of that, we assist with building the right product for advisers, alongside their investment partner.

It’s been great to work together with Activam Group on a solution that suits the specific needs of Right Advice’s clients – including transparent portfolios, efficient rebalancing, and faster execution of changes.”

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Notes:
[1] The total number of managed portfolios on BT Panorama as of 31 August 2023 was 348. The growth of BT’s managed accounts reflects industry trends. One in two advisers (56%) are using managed accounts in their client portfolios. Among those who use managed accounts, 61% of them are allocating the majority (over 80%) of their typical client portfolio in a managed accounts structure (Investment Trends 2023 Managed Accounts Report).
[2] Funds under administration (FUA) in managed portfolios on BT Panorama increased by 18% in the year to 31 August 2023 ($11.31bn to $13.34bn).
[3] Data on diversified portfolios is based on BT Panorama statistics.

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Jason Brown

BT has appointed Jason Brown to lead its platforms’ distribution team as it continues to invest in BT Panorama’s digital capability, platform features and managed accounts offer.

Mr Brown has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services and has been an integral part of BT for 14 years across business development and account management. He’s a passionate and values-driven leader who has a reputation for fostering enduring advice practice relationships as well as guiding high-performing, motivated and connected teams.

Kathy Vincent, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at BT said “Jason is the right fit for the team at the right time. He has enormous respect with our people and advisers and has demonstrated strength in his leadership skills through market volatility, changing economic environments, as well as rapid growth and change”.

Jason Brown said “BT is an innovative and adaptable business with a strong brand and it has been my privilege to be part of the development of the platforms business to where it is today. I look forward to continuing to work with our dedicated team and the advisers and practices who have entrusted us to be the custodians of their clients’ wealth, as we invest in our award-winning BT Panorama platform”.

Mr Brown will be responsible for leading the 70 strong distribution team in continuing to build and drive BT Panorama’s leading position. A part of this will be the amplified focus on supporting advice practice professionals and BT’s online and face-to face time with advisers – both in providing practice development, regulatory and technical education events, as well as listening to and acting on adviser feedback.

BT has $130.8 bn funds under administration (FUA) across its platforms As at a 31 March 2023. BT Panorama has $102.1 bn in FUA, and the highest number of adviser relationships in Australia BT Panorama has the largest number of adviser relationships in the industry, with 40% market share according to Investment Trends, May 2022 Adviser Technology Needs Report: Industry Analysis, p.8. with more than 6,000 active advisers now using the platform.

Mr Brown has been acting in the role since December 2022 and was most recently Head of Account Management at BT. His appointment brings strength and stability to a dynamic team ready for its next exciting chapter.

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