BT Wrap has launched tax and trading tools aimed at helping advisers quickly gauge the tax implications of clients’ trades and warn them if the impact is adverse.
BT Wrap head Chris Freeman said the changes were part of an ongoing drive to increase efficiency for advisers and deliver better value to BT Wrap investors.
“These features are game-changing,” Freeman said.
“Not only will they make it easier for advisers to trade equities and managed funds, but they’ll also enable them to proactively manage tax outcomes of certain sales when trading.”
BT and its competitors are enhancing their wrap offerings as advisers race to prepare for the government’s upcoming Future of Financial Advice reforms.
The wrap changes aim to boost efficiency for advisers by reducing the time spent on portfolio management, client reviews and rebalancing portfolios.
BT Wrap’s ‘minimum gain’ setting is the new default sale allocation method for investment and accumulation accounts, signalling which investment will incur the lowest estimated taxable gain and, in the case of a sale, highlighting that parcel as the first cab off the rank.
For pension accounts, the default sale allocation method is ‘maximum gain’, which seeks a tax result appropriate for that environment. The appropriate default sale allocation method depended on a client’s particular circumstances, and advisers could change from the default allocation to ensure the appropriate method was selected, BT Wrap said.
Other information available on the BT Wrap trading screen includes the estimated taxable gain or loss of the proposed trade and an early warning system that flags any trade that would result in a loss of tax concessions.
BT Wrap also has introduced daily financial year-to-date reporting for estimated realised and unrealised capital gains.
The wrap had about $42 billion under administration as of 30 April 2011.
