Alex Vynokur

Leading fund manager, Betashares, yesterday announced its range of PIE funds are now available on a number of leading NZ-based financial adviser investment platforms.

Betashares’ range of NZ-domiciled PIE funds were launched in June 2023 and provide investors with exposure to five index-tracking strategies covering Global and Australian equities as well as Australian fixed income within a tax-efficient structure for NZ investors.

The inclusion of Betashares’ PIE funds on the menus of the major NZ-based investment platforms means advisers are now able to access the strategies for their clients. Specifically, NZ-based financial advisers using the Consilium Wrap, Adminis, Apex Group, NZX Wealth Technologies and other major platforms are able to access the Betashares PIE fund range on behalf of their clients. Wholesale investors may also be able to invest directly into these funds.

The inclusion of Betashares’ PIE fund range on key platforms came as investment consultant, MyFiduciary, said the Australasian fund manager “had met all 24 criteria of the Fi360 Global Fiduciary Standard of Excellence for Investment Managers”. MyFiduciary also noted “clear and established processes and operational rigour” by Betashares as well as “a differentiated client servicing value proposition to many other fund managers.”

Betashares CEO, Mr Alex Vynokur, said the inclusion of the new PIE funds on several investment platforms will improve financial adviser accessibility to the innovative range of investment solutions.

“As a business, we’re working hard to expand our already meaningful footprint in the New Zealand market. We’re deeply committed to helping investors and their financial advisers meet their investment objectives via our innovative range of PIE funds,” Mr Vynokur said.

Betashares Executive Director – Institutional & Adviser Services, Mr Vinnie Wadhera, said the timely inclusion of Betashares’ PIE fund range was a result of early demand from NZ-based financial advisers.

“The inclusion of our innovative PIE funds on platform menus is a direct result of the significant interest shown by our trusted adviser clients. We thank these clients for their efforts to review our funds and we’ll continue to engage with them about the meaningful role our innovative investment solutions can play in their client portfolios,” Mr Wadhera said.

“Alongside the early demand for our PIE funds, we’ve also seen adoption of our Practice Development services by NZ advisers who are looking to build and scale their businesses,” Mr Wadhera concluded.

The post Betashares PIE fund range now available on major NZ investment platforms appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Mr Annan will be responsible for leading BetaShares’ activities with institutional investors and working closely with Peter Harper and Vinnie Wadhera, BetaShares veterans and co-heads of distribution.

Mr Annan joins BetaShares with a wealth of ETF experience from BlackRock Investments, having worked in various roles across the business in the US, including iShares Private Wealth Management, Capital Markets, the Fixed Income ETF team and, most recently, driving the iShares Institutional sales effort in Australia and New Zealand.

Alex Vynokur, CEO of BetaShares, said that bringing Mr Annan on board reflects the growth of the BetaShares’ business, and the ETF industry in Australia as a whole.

“We are thrilled to have Dan leading our Institutional strategy”, said Mr Vynokur.

“The industry is maturing rapidly in Australia, with institutions using ASX-traded ETFs increasingly frequently for a range of portfolio applications.  We are confident that such institutional usage will only continue to grow over time, and we are positioning ourselves to meet the demand.”

This appointment marks an already-strong year for the Australian ETF manager, which has seen funds under management surpass the $5.5 billion mark as well the launch of four new funds so far this year, including the world’s lowest cost Australian shares ETF^[1], A200.

“Since the launch of our first ETFs in December 2010, our business has evolved considerably and we now offer the broadest range of exchange traded funds in Australia, providing solutions for a wide range of investor needs”, added Mr Vynokur.

[1] Source: Bloomberg, based on expense ratios of Australian shares ETFs traded in Australia or on overseas exchanges.

The post BetaShares hires industry specialist to lead Institutional investor expansion appeared first on AdviserVoice.

ETFs offer flexibility as they can be traded during the day like a share: Betashares

Exchange traded products are worthy of consideration for use as a core building block of managed accounts and can provide multiple benefits to managed account providers, according to BetaShares.

Speaking at the Institute of Managed Account Providers (IMAP) event in Sydney last week, Vinnie Wadhera, BetaShares’ Director of Institutional Business and National Accounts discussed the multiple applications of exchange traded funds for managed accounts.

“We are seeing three methods of exchange traded fund implementation across managed account providers being core exposures, access to specific strategies or asset classes and dynamic asset allocation,” Mr Wadhera said.

For core exposures, exchange traded funds can be used alone to create balanced portfolios or can be blended with active managers. Such blending can serve to reduce portfolio cost and improve liquidity without the adviser needing to dramatically change the investment portfolio.

“There’s often a misconception of having to choose between active managers and exchange traded funds. As an ETF Fund Manager, we believe there is room for both in providing optimal outcomes for portfolios,” he said.

Another key use of exchange traded funds by managed accounts is as a means of widening choice and offering strategies or asset class exposure to investors which may otherwise be difficult to implement.

“A key advantage of exchange traded products is their ability to give investors simple to access, low-cost exposure to asset classes or strategies in a single trade. For example, we’ve seen advisers adopt exchange traded products which seek to provide enhanced equity yield performance or portfolio hedging exposure, which would be difficult to obtain via other means. We’ve also seen interest in specific asset classes such as currency and commodities, for the same reason.”

Perhaps one of the most effective ways to use exchange traded funds in managed accounts is to use the flexibility of the exchange traded fund structure to implement dynamic asset allocation strategies:

“We believe exchange traded funds offer tremendous flexibility as they are traded on exchange and can be purchased or sold during the day like a share. This offers managed accounts flexibility to tailor portfolios dynamically, tilting to investment views as required,” he said.

The post Exchange traded funds have multiple benefits for managed accounts appeared first on AdviserVoice.