The finalists for the 2019 IMAP Managed Account Awards have been announced, with the winners to be revealed at a gala event in Sydney on 25 June.
The awards cover both single sector asset classes and multi asset class programs, which generally have a range of risk profiles or other goal based objectives.
In addition, there is an award specifically for managed account programs offered by advice firms that are integrated into the advice process, as well as an award for innovation, which in the judges’ opinion, advances the development of managed accounts.
“Managed accounts are becoming a significant part of the advice profession, with many managers and licensees now offering portfolios. The managed account programs that are offered by advice firms are an important development that we want to recognise,” said IMAP Chair, Toby Potter.
“We want the IMAP Managed Account Awards to be a recognition of practice excellence among advice firms. The managed account programs they offer are operated largely out-of-sight and the best are well resourced, carefully thought through, have a clear investment philosophy, with decent track records. They deserve to be recognised.”
Now in its second year, the awards are judged across seven categories:
- Australian equities;
- Australian equities small cap;
- International equities;
- Multi Asset Class;
- Australian Fixed Interest;
- Licensee Managed Account; and
- Innovation.
The 2019 IMAP Managed Account Awards finalists are:
Australian Equities
- Antares Equities
- Blackmore Capital
- Elston Asset Management – winner
- Perpetual Private
- Watershed Funds Management
- DNR Capital
Australian Equities Small Cap
- Macquarie Investment Management – winner
- Watershed Funds Management
- Infinity Asset Management
- Pearl Funds Management
International Equities
- Loftus Peak
- Nucleus Wealth
- Pearl Funds Management
- Private Portfolio Managers
- Royston Capital
- Watershed Funds Management – winner
Multi Asset Class
- Canaccord
- Infinity Asset Management
- Resonant
- Shaw and Partners
- Soteria Capital – winner
- Watershed Funds Management
Australian Fixed Interest
- JB Were
- Mason Stevens
- Prime Financial Group
- Real Asset Management – winner
- Royston Capital
Licensee Managed Account
- Canaccord
- Crystal Wealth
- Prime Financial Group
- Royston Capital
- Stanford Brown
- Viridian Advisory – winner
Innovation
- BTFG
- Investum
- JB Were
- Nucleus Wealth
- Praemium – winner
- Resonant
The awards are selected by a panel of experienced investment professionals, including: Dominic McCormick, Angela Ashton, Nigel Douglas, Brad Matthews, Paul Saliba, Mark Oliver and Stuart Alsop.
According to Potter, the judges have a deep understanding of the portfolio construction and investment selection process, through their experience on investment committees, in running managed accounts and fund portfolios, and through their hands-on involvement in the development of managed account portfolios.
Judging criteria
In terms of the judging criteria for these awards, the portfolio needed to be offered through a managed account structure with the following features:
- Recognised legal structure – registered MIS, MDA, IDPS-like, IDPS model.
- Investments directly held by or on behalf of each investor, i.e. not a pooled structure.
- Model based.
- Clear discretion held by the portfolio or investment manager.
Importantly, the portfolio also needed to have a clear objective and a benchmark.
For the Asset Class portfolios, the judges took into account:
- Performance over time periods of one and three years;
- Risk measures, including standard deviation and Sharpe ratio;
- Weighted average cost of investment, both directly and considering the underlying investments; and
- Qualitative criteria, including the resources available to the portfolio management organisation and the structure.
For the Licensee Managed Account category, the criteria applied to single sector portfolios, with the judges also considering:
- The investment committee structure and resourcing;
- The way in which the portfolios reflected the advice firm’s investment philosophy and appeared to be integrated with it;
- How the managed account service fitted with the client proposition; and
- Supporting materials, in particular, the client and adviser communications about portfolio management and portfolio changes.
The Innovation Award category recognised those activities that had been designed to improve the:
- Operation and process of managed accounts;
- Adoption by advisers and licensees;
- Investment options;
- Technology used to support managed accounts; and
- Other functions the judges thought were worthy of recognition.
Each category award winner will be invited to present at the annual IMAP Portfolio Management Conferences in August and October this year. The winners will share their insights on what makes their approach to managed accounts so successful.
For more information on the IMAP Managed Account Awards presentation, go to: imap.asn.au/imap-awards-2019.
