Matthew Johnson

JANA Investment Advisers (‘JANA’) and Wealthtrac, a leading Separately Managed Accounts (SMA) aggregator, have today announced a new agreement under which JANA will provide comprehensive investment consulting services to Wealthtrac. This partnership underscores both companies’ commitment to advancing solutions in the wealth sector.

This collaboration highlights the increasing demand for advanced investment solutions in the wealth management sector. The agreement exemplifies Wealthtrac’s specialisation in managed accounts and JANA’s ongoing commitment to Australian advice practices and dealer groups seeking sophisticated investment strategies. By leveraging JANA’s unmatched scale, infrastructure, and expertise, Wealthtrac will gain access to top-tier investment strategies and a network of leading global asset managers.

Michael Karagianis, Head of Wealth at JANA said, “We are excited to support Wealthtrac’s growth objectives and anticipate robust expansion for their SMAs in the years ahead. As the industry continues to consolidate client offerings through MDA and SMA structures, the demand for high-quality advice and research becomes increasingly vital. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to providing exceptional value and achieving sustained growth.”

Matthew Johnson, Director at Wealthtrac, commented, “We are confident that our partnership with JANA will deliver substantial benefits to our clients by leveraging their highly-resourced team of investment specialists, in-depth manager research, and favourable wholesale fee arrangements. This collaboration will continue to position Wealthtrac as a leading SMA service provider, offering enhanced returns and improved efficiencies for smaller dealers. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with JANA.”

This collaboration will initially cover ten of Wealthtrac’s existing SMAs, available through the Macquarie and Hub24 platforms, across three dealer groups.

JANA Wealth offers consulting services including tailored managed accounts and access to wholesale strategies for dealer groups and self-licensed practices, private wealth firms and family offices..

Effective Thursday 15 August, JANA will commence providing investment consulting services to Wealthtrac. This collaboration is expected to drive innovation and excellence in wealth management, offering clients access to a broad spectrum of high-quality investment opportunities and strategic advice.

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Isabella Constantinou

Simplicity Loans & Advisory congratulates Isabella Constantinou on the six-month mark of her appointment to the position of Associate Director of the Sales team at the beginning of COVID-19.

Ms Constantinou first joined the company in 2017 as a graduate before being promoted to the role of associate working with both the Managing Directors, Matthew Johnson and Jean-Pierre Gortan.

Co-Managing Director, Matthew Johnson said “With our plans to continue growing our team this year, we couldn’t be more proud to promote Isabella to this new role and to have seen her growth over the last three years since her first introduction to the broking industry.”

“We are pleased to see more widespread entry of women in our industry and we want to be part of those paving the way by providing the right environment and offering opportunities for women to thrive in the industry. It was amazing to see the positive difference we saw in our small group when we first had Isabella and Samantha join the five men in the business back in 2017. Historically the finance and broking industry, particularly so in the commercial market, has been slower than others to move the dial on this.”

Co-Managing Director, Jean-Pierre Gortan added, “It’s also great to see others in the industry such as our aggregator FAST, and many of our lenders, recognise and make an effort to highlight the importance of women’s success in the industry and the unique perspective they can bring to a team through programs such as Strength in Diversity.”

Rob Ryan, Head of NSW, ACT and QLD at FAST said, “One of the reasons behind Simplicity Loans & Advisory’s early success is because of their inclusive and supportive approach towards their people, reflecting FAST’s own values of strength through diversity in its many forms. We are proud to say it is already one of FAST’s major key broker groups nationally thanks to the vision and foresight of the business’ founding partners Matthew Johnston and Jean-Pierre Gortan. It is businesses like Simplicity Loans & Advisory that will continue to empower this industry for the better, with their innovative approach and drive for diversification.”

In this new role, Ms Constantinou is now responsible for managing her own portfolio of commercial clients and referrers. Over the last six months she has averaged around 30 transactions in her pipeline at any one time, working closely with all stakeholders to source and structure attractive funding solutions.

“Joining the team at Simplicity has proven to be an invaluable step in my career and I am excited to step into this role as the team expands. Starting my career with a newly established business as part of a small team has given me the opportunity to be mentored by the best in the industry, and gain the experience and knowledge I wouldn’t have been exposed to as a graduate in a bank,” Ms Constantinou said.

“Being a woman in an industry that is traditionally dominated by men was certainly a challenge, but the team at Simplicity has been incredibly welcoming and supportive in helping me grow in my career and develop my skillset. I recognise I am still one of few women in the industry, but I’m looking forward to encouraging better diversity and gender equality amongst other colleagues in the industry. There are so many female role models in our industry that should be celebrated. We are still greatly underrepresented, and I actually see this as an opportunity to stand out and demonstrate your value.”

Mr Johnson concluded, “We will always be stronger, better prepared and better able to deliver outstanding service to our clients when we are able to leverage a range of different experiences, skills, backgrounds and viewpoints. We are really proud that our business includes people from so many different nationalities from all over the world and from different work backgrounds, but we are certainly looking to have more women join our team as we grow. Today, we have Samantha, our Office Manager in a leadership role, but of our 7 brokers we only have Isabella, and whilst we are focused on the right people for the right roles, we would love to see that ratio even up.”

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Mr Pacella will be responsible for raising the profile and awareness of Marketplace Finance in the Australian market by engaging with new and existing partners on how its full service commercial finance solution can assist them and their clients achieve their goals through one portal.

Co-Managing Director, Matthew Johnson, said “We are pleased to welcome Dino to our growing team and are looking forward to tapping into his expertise to uncover new opportunities and help the business reach new milestones. Dino will be working closely with our sales and fulfilment teams to ensure deals are progressed through to settlement with the highest level of integrity and transparent communication.”

Mr Pacella brings over 16 years of financial experience, having most recently held Business Development Manager roles at Capify and Suncorp Bank, where he was responsible for managing their broker partner relationships, assist them in servicing their small business clients, and growing new business.

“I’m excited to join the Marketplace Finance team and to be working in a company where the people are the core focus and value of the organisation. I believe in surrounding myself with the right people who share the same values and work towards forming and maintaining relationships built on trust. I’ve known the Managing Directors, Jean-Pierre Gortan and Matthew Johnson, for some time now and we not only share a passion for helping our clients achieve their personal and financial goals, but also care about doing the right thing and giving back to the community,” Mr Pacella said.

“I’m looking forward to assisting our partners on identifying, analysing and most importantly capitalising on commercial lending opportunities through the Marketplace Finance solution and delivering true diversification by combining technology, years of commercial industry experience and true client passion.”

His experience and passion for the broker industry has also seen Mr Pacella found National Finance Brokers Day in 2015, which he established to build awareness of the broker industry throughout Australia and help educate consumers on the advantages received by dealing with a broker along with the full service proposition they bring to the Australian marketplace.

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Backed by an experienced group of lending industry executives, Marketplace.finance has launched a digital solution that recasts the commercial lending value chain. The system enables access to competitive commercial lending facilities to any accredited referrer.

The company is driven by a vision to educate and enable professional referrers to write and manage complex commercial loans regardless of previous time and experience.

“The system and company unveiled today is called Marketplace.finance,” said co-founder and Managing Director, Jean-Pierre Gortan.

“It is backed by 40 years’ of combined industry experience together with a simple proposition that seamlessly integrates within a referrer’s current business as a value-added service and as a scalable proposition to a commercial customer’s capital funding needs”.

Mr Gortan said this new platform addresses industry demand for greater business diversification and to help steer new sources of customer delivery and revenues towards the traditional finance broking and referring sector.

“Various industry groups are pushing sector players like mortgage brokers to overcome a range of market hurdles in order to remain relevant. We are the first to recognise the need to act and provide brokers, and others (advisers, lawyers and accountants for example) with a simple solution to address the fundamental change in finance lending dynamics head on,” Mr Gortan said.

“Our system is a sophisticated commercial funding platform to help accredited referrers manage the entire loan lifecycle from initial inquiry, loan submission to lender relationship. This means enabling the referrer to focus on deepening existing client engagements whilst diversifying their business base to maintain profitability and relevance to new markets,” he said.

Matthew Johnson, co-founder and Managing Director at Marketplace.finance added that the solution not only enables referrers to capitalise and grow within the commercial lending value chain but requires the referrer to wholly own the client.

“We do not wish to disrupt the important nexus between professional referrer and the client. That relationship is sacrosanct and untouched by us,” Mr Johnson said.

“We can see that upskilling of the traditional broking community is essential to extend the diversification and relevance of those referrer partners. That’s primarily why we created this simple solution, with goals of long-term partnerships.

“That vision enables us to impart proven knowledge and experience, help referrer partners to capitalise by plugging revenue gaps and creating a new service proposition in a growth market”, Mr Johnson said.

The platform is now available via Marketplace.finance and the commercial and asset finance broker aggregator, FAST.

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Matthew Johnson

Platform and wrap provider Wealthtrac yesterday launched a new shareable App for its popular wrap product that will enable Wealthtrac members to monitor their super on their phone or mobile device.

The innovation follows the overwhelming success of Wealthtrac’s mobile shareable application for SMSFs that delivers news and information to anyone interested in self managed super.

Wealthtrac Chief Executive Officer Matt Johnson said the mobile device shareable App recognised the seismic shift occurring in the delivery of financial services and information.

Figures compiled by the federal government’s Australian Media and Communications Authority show as at May 2014 12.07 million Australians owned a smart phone.

“The penetration of Mobile Commerce or M-Commerce, defined as undertaking banking or paying bills or buying goods and services online using a mobile phone has ballooned dramatically, increasing 450% in 3 years to a point where 3.4million Aussies used an M-Commerce service during December 2013.

“You only have to catch a bus or a train in a capital city to realise its not just Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that people ‘on the go’ are accessing on their phone – they are also monitoring and managing their financial affairs.

“Wealthtrac’s new Wrap shareable App will provide direct access to Wealthtrac members’ own account to monitor daily performance, access product disclosure statements, get the latest industry news, register for direct share research, find their nearest adviser and access useful education documents.

“Using Wealthtrac’s ‘sister’ SMSF shareable App, launched last year, members can set up an SMSF, transfer assets to their fund and access information on SMSF borrowing.

“The world is moving mobile at a rapid pace and this new Wrap shareable App recognises this phenomenon.

“We have more digital innovation in the pipeline as we seek to continually improve our service to advisers and members,” Mr Johnson said.

Wealthtrac partnered with Shareable Apps to build their applications. CEO, Adam Friedman said, “We’re excited to be working with great innovators in their field and proud to produce this world first, one stop shop portal for Wealthtrac and its customers.”

Because the Apps are shareable, Wealthtrac customers and advisers can now refer new users by sharing the App with them across all mobile devices and all sharing methods.

Download and install the Apps:

Wealthtrac Wrap Shareable App – http://wealthtracwrap.shareableapps.com

Wealthtrac SMSF Shareable App – http://wealthtrac.shareableapps.com

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Craig West

In late February, SME Association of Australia (SMEAA) Founder and Executive Chairman Matthew Johnson announced his intention to step down as Executive Chairman of the SMEAA due to growing business commitments.

The SMEAA was established in late 2011 and as the Founder of the SMEAA Johnson has been a very strong, vocal advocate of the association and will continue as a Director on the board.  Johnson looks forward to an ongoing contribution to the SME community in Australia, a move supported by incoming Chairman Craig West.

West is the CEO of Succession Plus, a long-term advocate and supporter of the SMEAA.

In taking over as SMEAA Chairman, West thanked Johnson for his vision, contribution, efforts and commitment to establishing the SME Association of Australia.

“The Australian SME community should be very grateful that people like Matt had the vision, commitment and energy to establish an organisation to represent the vast number of SMEs throughout the country,” West said. “The vision and founding principles introduced by Matt will be strongly followed and supported going forward.

“I’m extremely grateful that Matt has been able to accept my invitation to stay on as a board member – I hope to continue to rely on Matt for support and guidance, as he has done an excellent job building the organisation into a strong and viable association of business owners to represent the needs of the SME community to government, large businesses and the Australian public.”

West also confirmed that the board had a number of immediate priorities the first being the appointment of a CEO for SMEAA and he expected to make that announcement before the end of this month.

Another will be the expansion of the board with the addition of new directors with a diverse and dynamic blend of business skills, backgrounds and expertise at the helm to lead the Association.

West is confident that the appointment of the first new director will be made in a matter of weeks.

In addition, over the next quarter, the SMEAA board will be meeting with State and Federal governments and several of the Small Business Commissioners throughout the country.

Craig West concluded, “As the peak body dedicated to being the leading voice of Australia’s SME business owners with over 18,500 members, SMEAA is committed to continuing its vital role representing Australia’s SMEs as this sector is the most important driver of this nation’s long term economic viability and prosperity.”

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Wealthrac release new mobile app.

Independent wealth product distributor Wealthtrac, has launched a mobile application that is designed to deliver news and information to anyone interested in self managed super.

Wealthtrac Managing Director and CEO, Matthew Johnson, said the development was an important step forward for the business and its adviser clients.

“Our cloud-based SMSF platform brings together all SMSF administration and reporting needs into one centralised hub,” he said.  “The ease of administration and level of reporting provides significant time savings for the accountants, advisers and trustees who use it.   This means they can focus on the areas that truly add value for their clients and their business.”

“Our App will also assist in this process by providing the latest SMSF news, access to SMSF education documents and will allow trustees to find their nearest adviser.  Users will also be able to set up an SMSF.  We believe this is the first time an SMSF has allowed for this level of functionality.

Mr Johnson said Wealthtrac is committed to developing products and services that enhance the client-adviser relationship.

“At Wealthtrac, we have a very strong belief in the independent advice model and all our services aim to strengthen the adviser-client relationship.   Self-managed super is probably the most complex area of superannuation.  Unfortunately, it is also where people seek the least advice but actually need the most help,” Mr Johnson said.

Mr Johnson said he believes the ability to focus on delivering investment and strategic advice, will be what defines the SMSF advice industry in the future.

“At a recent event hosted by Wealthtrac, a number of senior industry figures expressed concern that not enough is being done to protect SMSF investors from poor investment and strategic decisions.  The debate on the enshrinement of the term ‘financial adviser’ also rages on,

“But we believe what will set qualified advisers apart from the spruikers, is education and the ability to deliver advice on complex areas such as estate planning, contribution caps, related party transactions and other trustee responsibilities.    Excellence and ease in administration tools will underpin this success, but it is the advisers themselves that will make the real difference.”

Mr Johnson said the Wealthtrac SMSF platform offers:

• Instant tax reporting, which enables advisers to optimise a client’s tax position throughout the year, instead of at year end when it is generally too late to fix a tax problem
• An in-built compliance engine, which sends out alerts if a client breaches a super regulation allowing advisers to fully protect their clients 24/7
• Wrap-style reporting tools, with mobile access, provide a range of online reports on current performance and transactions.

“Our single monthly fee starts at only $140, and we have no asset based fees, no fee based on the number of investments, and we don’t charge extra to start a pension or commute funds.”

“We believe our range of features and competitive pricing makes the Wealthtrac SMSF platform the leader in today’s market.   With new features planned for release later in the year, we plan to retain our leading position.”

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The new service, developed in conjunction with Melbourne-based JC Consulting, is back-office administration outsource service, with staff in Australia and Thailand.

Wealthtrac Managing Director and CEO, Matthew Johnson, said the service would be particularly beneficial for sole practitioners and boutique advisory firms.

“Like all Wealthtrac products and services, JC Consulting Asia is designed to support the needs of the independent adviser and allow them to spend more time on the areas of their business that add the most value.

“This outsourced model was developed by Jason Cutrupi, a highly-experienced adviser and long-time supporter of Wealthtrac.   With continuing economic and regulatory pressures, we understand that advisers need to spend more time servicing clients and growing their business and less time on non-value add administration tasks. We saw what Jason had created for his own business believed the service would benefit other members, so we have created a package that is easily accessible for all IFAs.

“We think this is an excellent example of how collaboration between smaller advice firms can help them stay competitive and ensure diversity remains within the industry,” Mr Johnson said.

JC Consulting Asia allows independent advisers (IFAs) to outsource a wide variety of time-intensive, but low revenue generating activities, to specially trained personnel based in Thailand.   The Thai business is closely managed by Australian-trained General Manager, Mookdarin Sommark and Director Richella Daly, a JC Consulting employee for more than seven years.

Architect of the service, Jason Cutrupi, MD of JC Consulting Asia said he initially developed the model to service his own business, but soon realised the broader application.

“There are also a number of sole practioner advisers that simply have not and cannot afford the human resources to grow their practice. They find themselves doing all the remedial work as well as advising,” Mr Cutrupi said.

“JC Asia is able to assist these advisers by providing a low cost service that can be switched on and off according to workload. Also with FOFA and fee disclosures around the corner, cost and time spent on administration are set to increase.  JC Asia can be utilised to produce these documents at low cost, so the adviser can email or post it out to his clients with very little effort on his behalf.” 

Some of the services on offer include:

• Risk Insurance Service (Pre Assessments, Quotes, lodgement, Follow up and Payment)
• Super Switching Information
• Superannuation and Rollover Follow ups
• Data Entry (Xplan)
• Email Entry (Xplan)
• SOA Framework Construction (we construct all the client data and the adviser puts in the advice) 80% of SOA done by us
• General Superannuation and Insurance Follow ups
• Easy Dealer Commission Entry & Report Preparation
• Tailored Solutions.

“Most services have a set fee, so advisers know exactly what they are being charged. Adhoc work is charged at $12 per hour plus GST.”

Mr Johnson said Wealthtrac will announce a number of other new initiatives in the coming months, which will significantly increase the range of services on offer.

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Wealthtrac Managing Director and CEO, Matthew Johnson, said the new pricing model was designed to give advisers greater flexibility and was better suited to fee for service models. 

“We understand the pressures advisers and clients are under in the current environment. Platform services such as ours, should be about assisting advisers to do what they do best – and that is, implementing excellent advice strategies for their clients.” 

“The value of many Australian’s super accounts have fallen substantially in the past few years and this puts enormous pressure on advisers and their clients.  We think it’s important to respond to this new environment by lowering fees and keeping our platform accessible.” 

Previously administration fees were capped for accounts in excess of $500,000 or $2,770 maximum for superannuation. Wealthtrac has lowered this to $350,000 capped with a new maximum of $2,460 and $2,385 per annum for IDPS.  

“We believe this makes Wealthtrac the lowest capped traditional platform in themarketplace,” Mr Johnson said. 

The new PDS also includes revised ASF, which provides advisers and members with the flexibility to charge for advice.   Advisers can now charge a one off ASF as either a flat dollar or a percentage. Advisers also have the option to charge an ongoing ASF as either a fixed percentage or a tiered percentage based on the administration fee tiers and the ability to charge an ongoing ASF as a combination of a flat dollar and percentage (fixed or tiered). 

“Under the new PDS, advisers will have greater flexibility to negotiate fees that suittheir business and their clients.  We have enhanced functionality in relation to ASF. Importantly, we have also reduced administration fees, which we think is always well received by new members.”

Minimum fees on amounts less than $75,000 apply.  Existing members will remain on their current administration fees, however they are able to utilise the new ASF functionality via the Management Alteration form. 

Mr Johnson said the new structures were made possible following the revision of Wealthtrac’s service level agreement with OnePath.  

“The Wealthtrac platform has been performing strongly and our funds under administration has recently passed $750m for the first time.  Under our new SLA with OnePath, we have far greater flexibility to modify our offering to suit ouradviser members.”

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Wealthtrac Managing Director and CEO, Matthew Johnson, said Wealthtrac had re-signed with Oasis after considerable consideration of the needs of its adviser members both now and in the future. 

“The Wealthtrac model is different to many platforms, as the advisers who use it become beneficiaries of the Trust that owns Wealthtrac.  The agreement withOasis is very favourable for the Trust and will allow our member advisers to benefit from the future growth in value of our platform.” 

Mr Johnson said Wealthtrac did not have its own dealer group or manufactured products, which means advisers who use the platform can be confident that they will not be subject to additional competition or pressures to distribute in-house products.  

“The products on the Wealthtrac investment list are independent of the platform and are there via merit only.  We do not have our own advisers marketing our own products; nor competing for business with other members.  This means our advisers can be confident that the decisions we make as a business are in their interests, rather than just our own.” 

Mr Johnson said Wealthtrac would make further announcements about upcoming changes at the Group in the coming weeks.

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