W
hile overall the OneVue
platform has recently
madebigadvancesinfunction-
ality, Netwealth maintained its
topspotforhavingtherichest
features in Investment Trends’
2016 platform benchmark and
competitive analysis report.
As well as receiving the award
for best client portal, Netwealth
ranked first for transactional
tools, decision support and
online business managementtools. Other notable enhance-
mentsitmadeincluded:the
introduction of international
direct share trading, enhance-
ments to its managed accounts
offering, improved client and
business reporting and greater
client portal functionality.
Netwealth’s Matt Heine
attributes much of the current
$200 million in monthly inflows
to client interest in managed
accounts. “The beauty of a man-aged account structure is clients
canhavedirectownershipwith-
out the administrative burden of
managing that equity portfolio
themselves,” says Heine. “They
canalsobuyprofessionallyman-
aged mandates and hold them
within their own account.”
Netwealth members have
access to Morningstar research
on managed funds; the ASX
live service; the ability to set
up alerts and watchlists; USequity research from TipRanks,
which covers selected US equi-
ties including analyst ratings,
blogger sentiment and hedge
transactions; and monthly
investment strategy webinars.
After Netwealth, the next
four top platforms based on
Investment Trends’ survey are:
Hub24, Colonial First State
FirstWrap, Asgard eWrap and
Macquarie Wrap (including
Perpetual Private Wrap).aggregated share trading (bundled with other trades
to ensure cheaper fees), what does the cash account
pay in interest, how are share purchases and dividend
reinvestment plans handled, and can you select your
ownadviserandstillhavetheirfeepaidbyfundsunder
investment within the platform?
That’s why Andrew Braun, who heads Netwealth’s
marketingoperation,urgesinvestorstoassessthe
degrees of online functionality. For example, exactly
howmanymanagedfundoptionscanyouinvestin,how
many term deposit options are available and can you
roll over and buy/sell online?
“It’s not whether you can invest in international
sharespersebuthowmanyexchangesyoucaninvest
in,andnotwhetheryoucaninvestintheASXbut
whether you can invest in the entire ASX market that
matters,” says Braun.
Make the right choice
Killenmaintainsit’simpossibleforinvestorstochoose
the right investment platform until they’ve decided what
they want to invest in. For example, those who want
toinvestininternationalshareswillbydefaultknock
out 75% of investment platforms from their universe.
Insteadoftryingtoassesssixormoreplatforms,
Killen recommends narrowing it down to three.
For starters, he says whether an investor chooses
a master trust over the other subset of investment
platforms, namely wraps, may depend on whether
they wish to invest in direct shares. While they have
virtually identical admin structures, only the latter
provides for this option.
He says investors will mistakenly go into a platform
and then decide what they’re going to invest in, rather
than the other way around.
Asacaseinpoint,whileretailsuperannuationgiant
AustralianSuper’s Member Direct platform provides a
good range of investment options, it may lack the ease
INVESTINGPLATFORMS
MEET THE LEADERS OF THE PACK
of use and functionality provided by some of the newer
entrants. AustralianSuper also requires investors to
keep a specified minimum amount (20%) invested in
its other options whether they like it or not.
While purists may argue that neither AustralianSuper
norindustryfundcounterpartMediaSuperaretech-
nically investment platforms, they do provide levels of
investment functionality, albeit without a comparable
“wrap platform” product.
While most platforms charge between 0.5% and 2% in
fees, based on tiered admin structures, Killen reminds
investors it’s a user-pays system. “So don’t search for
somethingyoudon’tneed,likeaHub24,ifalow-cost,
low-function alternative does everything you want,” he
says.“Similarly,ifyouneedaccess to a platform via an
adviser, why pay for one?”M