Steve Lawrence

Credit Specialist La Trobe Financial announced that it has extended the loan terms available on commercial lending products to 25 years. This includes La Trobe Financial’s commercial SMSF product.

Mr Steve Lawrence, Executive Head of Credit-Commercial Lending at La Trobe Financial stated that “the long term, P&I servicing loan profile is significant in complementing the breadth of the commercial lending program. La Trobe Financial knows that in order to be a ‘one stop shop’ for specialist commercial lending, its fundamental to be able to offer a product range covering all of the typical deals brokers see.”

The product is particularly relevant for loans relating to commercial securities intended to be held long term such as warehouses, light industrial, offices, retail shops and mixed use. La Trobe Financial is offering the 25 year term as a standard option on both its commercial SMSF loan product and on all loan products where the security is owner occupied, however Steve adds that “with this extension in place, brokers are now welcome to discuss all scenarios with us to understand our flexibility in shaping deals to meet their requirements”.

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Hana Basic

La Trobe Financial deeply believes in investing in the future of our country and has recently decided to sponsor Ms Hana Basic, one of Australia’s elite junior athletic champions. Hana commenced her career in athletics in primary school after her PE Teacher suggested she join the local athletics club.

Hana is currently completing the first year of a Bachelor of Sports Science at Deakin University in Melbourne and most of her colleagues would not even know about her speed on the track. Marketing and Media Manager at La Trobe Financial Ms Caterina Nesci stated “We believe Hana is a promising athlete who has enormous upside potential over the coming years.”

One of Hana’s biggest idols is Olympic gold medallist Sally Pearson, who won gold in every major championship. In April of this year Hana smashed her own 100m personal best at the Australian Junior National Athletics Championships. She ran a personal best time of 11.64 seconds eclipsing Pearson’s mark of 11.70secs; she needed a time of 11.86 seconds to qualify.

Hana trains up to two times every day on the track, in the gym and in the pool between her University studies. “It’s all about being disciplined and dedicated so as to fit in training around study,” she says. Her best advice “keep working and training hard to achieve whatever you want to achieve, because results will eventually come.”

La Trobe Financial’s President & CEO, Greg O’Neill, says that when he first met Hana he knew right away she had the right attributes for success. She showed the determination, discipline and desire to succeed. The very same attributes that our current Company dAmbassador and 5 time Winter Olympian Jacqui Cooper continues to display today.

La Trobe Financial has a long history of helping Australians achieve both financial independence and giving back to the community. Through our La Trobe Foundation, launched back in 1978, we fund our Staff Community Service Program permitting all staff to volunteer up to two days a year (fully paid by La Trobe Financial) to work in the broader community and to have a positive impact on those around us by working in organisations such as Lifeline and Meals on Wheels. The second aspect of the La Trobe Foundation is that we provide ten School Scholarships each year for children or grandchildren of our 120,000 customers, and thirdly we sponsor elite athletes, focused on excellence such as Jacqui Cooper and Hana Basic.

The work of our La Trobe Foundation continues as part of our overall corporate initiative to recognise the demands placed on families and clients within modern society. We are very proud of the work undertaken and funded by the La Trobe Financial Foundation and the very real assistance it has provided to Lifeline and other volunteer organisations with our staff work days, the children of numerous borrowers and investors seeking excellence in education through annual School Scholarships, and through the sponsoring of rising young Australian sporting talent like Hana.

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John Brogden

Over the last 12 months, Lifeline has answered an extraordinary 700,000 calls from Australians in crisis and at risk of suicide, however over 160,000 who were calling for help were placed on hold and chose to hang up because they could not be reached in time.

Today more people will die from suicide than road accidents. It is the largest single cause of death for Australian men under 45 and women under 35.

La Trobe Financial has been the major sponsor for the Melbourne Lifeline business luncheon over the past two years. The most recent held in Melbourne on 24 July 2014 at the Soffitel Hotel had former Prime Minister of Australia the Honourable Julia Gillard as guest speaker with over 300 attendees.

John Brogden, Chairman of Lifeline, shared his personal experience of wanting to commit suicide seven years ago.

Today, he is grateful that he did not cross that road. That he was lucky to have achieved help and one of his goals is to help others that also hit that “dark place”.

John stated that “Lifeline is answering more calls every year, but the calls keep growing. We want to answer every call and help save more lives.” Lifeline has been supported by over 11,000 volunteers and the overnight shifts are becoming a challenge. Deaths by suicide have sadly reached a ten year peak of 2,535.

One in four people will suffer from an anxiety issue. Consider, one in four in your workplace. How does this affect the economy, work productivity and personal lifestyle? Mental health in the workplace costs $5 billion a year with people not being able to work, or not being able to concentrate at work. People need to become more resilient with coping with different levels of stress, anxiety and implementing this training at an early age, say from primary school level is required. We need to talk more about mental illness. That is why Lifeline’s 24 hour/seven days a week telephone crisis support service is very important and continues to save lives.

Brian Ford, La Trobe Financial’s Chief Operating Officer in introducing Ms Gillard stated “One thing that we all can do is recognise that we can all help someone with a mental illness. It is important to work together in our businesses and private lives to help our fellow workers or friends through difficult times and become more resilient.”

La Trobe Financial has a long history of helping Australians achieve financial independence and of giving back to the community.

La Trobe Financial operates a Community Program through our La Trobe Foundation inviting all 133 staff to volunteer up to two days a year (fully paid by La Trobe Financial) to work in the broader community to impact positively those around us. Many La Trobe Financial staff choose to work for Lifeline as volunteers and we are very proud we are contributing to our community in this way.

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Randal Williams

La Trobe Financial’s Chief Wealth Management Officer Randal Williams, has announced that the Pooled Mortgages Option (“PMO”), an investment option in the La Trobe Australian Mortgage Fund, has again been recognised with a “Recommended” rating by Zenith Investment Partners.

In the report, Zenith Analyst, Dugald Higgins states that “La Trobe Financial has achieved an impressive track record in the mortgage sector driven by its deep lending experience spanning over 60 years as an organisation.”

The PMO was established in 2002 to provide investors with exposure to a diversified, Australia-wide pool of loans secured by first ranking mortgages. Higgins mentions in the report that “unlike some other funds in the sector, it has always been able to pay eligible redemptions and continues to hold its track record of not having ever returned a capital loss to investors, a feat which several prominent mortgage funds have been unable to replicate over the past three years”. Higgins further notes “that the PMO is most suited to those seeking capital stability and an income return which should solidly exceed the cash rate through investment cycles.”

The PMO’s manager, La Trobe Financial, was established in 1952 as a credit specialist. Randal Williams, Chief Wealth Management Officer at La Trobe Financial, stated that “the La Trobe Financial team was driven by the need for consistency and repeatability of performance. With equities markets experiencing such volatility, our investors are targeting capital stability and reliable income at a premium to cash. We have provided that since inception.” Williams further stated “Like any fund, the performance of the PMO is driven by the quality of its assets. We therefore welcome Zenith’s description of our credit assessment processes as `robust’ and `stringent’”.

Chris Andrews, Head of Funds Management at La Trobe Financial noted “that it was particularly pleasing that Zenith recognised the PMO as having … the highest level of diversification in the mortgage fund sector”.

Andrews added “La Trobe Financial’s unique co-investment model diversifies the funding sources for each individual loan, meaning that the PMO can massively increase its number of investments and decrease its average size of investment. This achieves enhanced diversification, which smoothes asset performance for investors and thereby contributes to an exceptionally stable absolute return profile”

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Greg O’Neill signing the formal registration papers.

Australian based credit specialist Fund Manager La Trobe Financial has expanded its China business by setting up formal registration in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FT Zone). This FT Zone will enable La Trobe Financial to grow its current local operations further following China’s commencement of financial market liberalisation.

As one of only a hand full of financial institutions setting up in the FT Zone, La Trobe Financial is well positioned to participate in China’s proposed financial market deregulation, and the opportunities this presents for trade and investment flows between China and Australia and potentially the rest of the Asian region.

Under the FT Zone’s current regulatory framework, La Trobe Financial will conduct a range of investment and asset management services. The FT Zone is designed to be an engine to accelerate China’s and Shanghai city’s construction of “six fields of industry” as described in the FT Zone framework – which include financial services, shipping, business and trade, professional services, and cultural and social services. The signing ceremony to establish La Trobe Financial’s FT Zone company was attended by La Trobe Financial’s President & CEO, Greg O’Neill in Shanghai last week and Shanghai office staff.

Mr O’Neill commented that, “Asia’s development and population base means it is now well on track to be a significant global player in financial markets. Looking towards 2020 we believe that Shanghai will ultimately become a global financial centre following this FT Zone initiative and the Chinese government’s approach to more open capital markets is to be applauded.”

“Regional financial integration is very important for Asia-Pacific financial markets in order to achieve greater economies of scale, depth in liquidity and ultimately better support the region’s economic development plans by improving access to finance in each economy. Developments such as the FT Zone, and the proposed ‘ASIAN regional Funds Passport’, maintain a better legal and regulatory framework which promote investor protections and efficient and transparent markets. This in turn promotes economic and regional stability”, said O’Neill.

The FT Zone was established on 29 September 2013. Around 100 companies have been registered in the zone each day over the past few months. The FT Zone module is also expected to be replicated in other parts of China.

La Trobe Financial understands how important the Asian region market is to Australia’s financial future and more particular how important China is. In 2008 La Trobe Financial made a significant commitment to grow its operations internationally with a particular focus on China and opened its first office in Shanghai with a dedicated international team who speak fluent Mandarin and Cantonese.

Recently, the International Alternative Investment Review (IAIR) Global Awards were held in Hong Kong, recognising some of the world’s best in wealth management, brokerage and asset management. For the second consecutive time, La Trobe Financial won the Award for Excellence in Mortgage Fund Management – Australia (2013 and 2014). It has also won Excellence and Innovation in Australian Management – Independent Australia (2013). La Trobe Financial’s Chief Wealth Management Officer, Randal Williams stated, “such Awards highlight the innovative approach and features offered by La Trobe Financial to investors and that is exactly what we continue to do in the FT Zone.”

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The Fund has four investment options with the Pooled Mortgages Option (PMO) being the subject of Zenith’s Product Assessment Report. The PMO’s objective is to deliver consistent monthly income returns to investors with capital stability and is suited to investors with medium to long-term investment horizons (3-4 years).

The Fund is managed by the La Trobe Group which is a fund manager which specialises in credit, targeting the niche segment of low-doc lending. La Trobe Financial was founded in 1952 and currently has total funds under management of $1.66 billion.

Zenith’s View

Zenith classifies the Fund as a High Yield mortgage fund, owing to its predominant focus on more aggressive lending than the average conservative mortgage fund with in excess of 72.5% of the loan book made up of low-doc loans.

While operating primarily on low-doc lending, the Manager applies a full-doc type approach to credit assessment as well as maintaining strict risk measures that prevent the Fund taking on unwarranted risk. We see the lending processes as being conservative in comparison to other high yield mortgage funds operating in the market and risks are well controlled via stringent lending criteria, and maintaining proactive and robust arrears management.

Zenith regards the PMO as being most suited to those seeking capital stability and an income return which should solidly exceed the cash rate through investment cycles. This means however that investors should only consider this fund if they have a higher risk tolerance.

La Trobe Financial have carved out an impressive track record in this sector driven by their deep lending and continued effort in refining their low-doc lending process.

Key structural advantages have assisted the PMO in being able to sidestep most of the issues which have plagued the sector since 2008 which have resulted in frozen redemptions, constricted distributions and impaired operations for the many of the Fund’s peers.

Overall, Zenith regards the PMO as an attractive offering in what has historically been a difficult asset class.

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