Colonial First State’s First Choice platform will offer advisers a fully integrated margin lending solution for non-super investments at the end of April, it announced yesterday at the Commonwealth Bank wealth management briefing in Sydney.
It will also offer 12 new investment options including FirstChoice Asian Share, FirstChoice Global Property Securities, and FirstChoice Global Infrastructure Securities.
Other new funds include Acadian Global Equity Long Short, Challenger Property Securities, Ausbil Australian Emerging Leaders, Merrill Lynch Monthly Income and Deutsche Australian Bond.
Great value is achieved by combining a utility for customers and a price point where customers feel they are getting good value for money, Colonial First State chief executive Brian Bissaker said.
According to Bissaker, more than 50 per cent of IFAs use FirstChoice in the market, which gives it an enormous breadth of distribution.
“We have a new way of doing margin lending,” Bissaker said.
“To do margin lending you usually have to do the margin lending form and an asset form, the margin lender has to do what they do for a loan and then this passes to an asset lender. After a week or so you’re probably invested. We have got rid of the handover we have a longer PDS and an application form which is one page.
“For advisers it’s very easy. This margin lending business can be a further driver of growth and profitability of the platform.”
The new facility offers no establishment fees and competitive interest rates, loan approval process and investment generally confirmed within 48 hours, and a simple 50 per cent loan valuation ratio providing an additional $1 for every $1 of money invested.
