Following Perpetual Corporate Trust’s appointment as the responsible entity (RE) of global fund administrator Mainstream Group’s Separately Managed Account (SMA), the platform has been fully operational and delivering benefits to clients since May 2019, with initial commitments greater than $150 million.
Mainstream Fund Services supports Perpetual Corporate Trust by providing administration, registry or custody services to more than 30 funds where Perpetual Corporate Trust acts as RE.
Speaking of the partnership, Perpetual Corporate Trust General Manager of Management Services, Vicki Riggio said: “Given improvements in technology, we are seeing an increased demand for SMAs across the market. The added compliance an SMA offers as a regulated product, helps address financial planner concerns regarding the administration, costs or independence of platforms they currently use.”
The SMA investment solution offers advisers and their clients customised access to specialist investment models across 25 international markets and potential access to Mainstream administered managed funds from over 110 leading investment managers across all asset classes.
Mainstream Chief Executive Officer, Martin Smith, said Mainstream administers funds for 110 Australian fund managers, with more than $90 billion assets under management.
“The SMA offers our clients with the infrastructure to provide retail investors with actively managed, tax optimised products, typically reserved for high-net-wealth investors. The SMA forms part of our investment in digital services. Benefits of the SMA platform include integrated reporting, operational efficiency, asset transparency and improved financial outcomes,” Smith said.
He added that clients investing through the SMA could access institutional brokerage rates that would usually be unavailable to retail clients.
“This can produce substantial savings in brokerage over time. Furthermore, pooling of client trades helps avoid minimum brokerage charges on smaller accounts,” Smith said.
According to Smith, Rivkin Securities is one of the foundation clients of Mainstream’s SMA platform.
Commenting on the benefits and adoption growth of SMAs, Rivkin Chief Executive Officer, Nikos Enginertan, said: “Rivkin has traditionally followed the model of providing investment advice but leaving execution up to the client. We have seen substantial demand from clients for a solution where all the trading and administration is done for them.”