By Jayson Forrest - Managing Editor - IMAP Perspectives
Matt Harrison - Managing Director Franklin Templeton
Judges awarded the 2020 IMAP Managed Account Award for International Equities to the Franklin Templeton Global Growth portfolio.
It’s about doing the little things right and being consistent with what it does that has seen Franklin Templeton take out the 2020 IMAP Managed Account Award for the International Equities category.
Picking up from earlier in the year when it took out Fund Manager of the Year in the Global Equities category at the 2020 Morningstar Australia Awards, Franklin Templeton nudged out a strong list of finalists to win this year’s IMAP Award in the International Equities category for its Franklin Global Growth portfolio.
Launched in 2015, the Franklin Global Growth SMA (FGG SMA) was a response to the growing demand by advisers for this type of product solution. The SMA is a concentrated, high-conviction portfolio of approximately 20 stocks that is benchmark agnostic, and is focused on finding sustainable growth opportunities around the world. The portfolio is directly managed by a team out.
of New York lead by John Remmert and Don Huber, portfolio manager for the Franklin Templeton Equity Group.
According to Franklin Templeton managing director, Matt Harrison, the portfolio also seeks companies whose earnings streams are not highly correlated. By doing so, it has been able to maintain a consistent track record of outperformance.
“I value good advice and partnering with financial advisers to deliver a better investment outcome for clients. So, anyway we can achieve that is our focus, whether that’s a pooled fund right through to an SMA and ETF,” Matt says.
“Advisers want quality engagement, transparency and in-depth research on high conviction positions, and that’s how we’ve approached our offering at Franklin Templeton.”
Our philosophy is focused on creating shareholder value. When you’ve got a global mandate but you’re limited to only picking a stock portfolio of 20 in the SMA, you need to be at the top of your game.
Shareholder value
In presenting Franklin Templeton with the IMAP Award for International Equities, IMAP judge Dominic McCormick, said Australia was clearly seeing more of the big global fund managers offering and promoting their equities capability via managed accounts and in so doing, bringing significant resources to the process.
“As this year’s winner, Franklin Templeton has produced excellent international returns, but surprisingly did so without holding the much loved FANG plus Microsoft stocks,” Dominic said.
It was a comment not lost on Matt, who says Franklin Templeton’s investment philosophy revolves around a bottom-up approach when selecting quality growth companies that have sustainable business models.
“Our philosophy is focused on creating shareholder value. When you’ve got a global mandate but you’re limited to only picking a stock portfolio of 20 in the SMA, you need to be at the top of your game,” Matt says.
Franklin Templeton does this by limiting overlaps in economic exposures between companies. And, during recent times, something that has clearly differentiated this business from its peers is its decision to not hold any of the ‘mega cap’ companies, including those, like the FANG stocks, that have performed particularly well. Yet, despite this, Matt is pleased to say the business has still delivered strong outperformance.
However, it’s not just this track record of outperformance that Matt likes to measure the success of Franklin Templeton’s service offering.
“We’re nobody if we can’t deliver on what we say we’ll do, which is provide consistent investment performance. But outside of that, we also measure our success on the strength of the relationships we have with advisers and the support we provide them.
“Advice is an important part of the wealth management puzzle. That means we need to ensure we support advisers and make sure they are properly equipped to enable them to have the right type of investment-related conversations with clients,” Matt says.
“So, whether that’s additional thought-leadership material, whether that’s insights and transparency into the SMA, or whether it’s simply the investment return we provide, that’s how we gauge our success at Franklin Templeton.”
We’re nobody if we can’t deliver on what we say we’ll do, which is provide consistent investment performance. But outside of that, we also measure our success on the strength of the relationships we have with advisers and the support we provide them
Long-term commitment
Since establishing a presence in Australia in 1987, Franklin Templeton has enjoyed a 33-year relationship with the local market, with offices currently in Sydney and Melbourne, where it offers institutional and retail clients access to specialised expertise across key asset classes, ranging from international equities and fixed income to Australian equities.
It’s this long-term commitment to the Australian market that Matt is particularly proud of, and while he is buoyed to win this year’s IMAP Award for International Equities, he says the award is credit for the work and dedication the investment team has put into its product offering and the business’ focus on client engagement over a long period of time.
“Franklin Templeton, and our Growth portfolio, has been committed to the Australian market for a long time now. So, it’s a fantastic honour and great recognition by our peers to receive this award.”
Franklin Templeton, and our Growth portfolio, has been committed to the Australian market for a long time now. So, it’s a fantastic honour and great recognition by our peers to receive this award
IMAP congratulates all the finalists in the International Equities category
- AllianceBernstein
- Franklin Templeton
- Nikko AM
- Swell Asset Management
- Watershed Funds Management
- Zurich Investments