Portfolio administration provider Praemium has pumped £2 million of capital into its United Kingdom (UK) operation as part of its plan to launch its self managed account business there by the end of the year.
The £2 million will allow Praemium to meet the required regulatory capital requirements laid out by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) ahead of fund manager status being awarded.
"The £2 million is only a small percentage of the total capital we injected to get the SMArtFund self managed account business ready for a UK launch," Praemium group chief executive Arthur Naoumidis said.
SMArtFund will be a retail collective investment scheme authorised and regulated by the FSA in the UK and use Praemium's Australian-developed proprietary separately managed accounts technology.
"It's something our investors have been waiting for and indicates that the operation should be fully functional by the turn of the year," Naoumidis said.
"Achieving this authorisation is one of those threads that draws the whole process together and takes us significantly closer to the vision that we took to the market when we listed 15 months ago."
According to Naoumidis, the group has undergone a program to "Anglicize" its technology, and is currently working through the testing stage.
"The UK market is a cornerstone of the business going forward and the reason many of out investors took an interest in the first place," Naoumidis said.
A recent report of the UK Investment Managers Association indicates that as at December 2006 there was in excess of £3.4 trillion funds under management in the UK, of which the retail market accounts for approximately 21 per cent of total assets.
