According to the financial services firm, the milestone follows consistent growth across its investment solutions, which span exchange-traded funds (ETF), managed accounts, diversified portfolios, as well as its investment platform Betashares Direct.
It also comes less than a year after it formally entered Australia’s mammoth superannuation industry via the acquisition of Bendigo Superannuation in September.
With more than a million investors and thousands of financial advisers making up its client base, chief executive Alex Vynokur said growing to $50 billion in size also provided a chance to look back on the progress that the firm has made in recent years.
“For nearly 15 years, we have worked hard to build a long-standing partnership with our clients. As a trusted steward of capital on behalf of our clients, we deeply appreciate the importance of trust and we are looking forward to continuing to strengthen this partnership in the years and decades ahead,” Vynokur said.
Notably, the CEO hinted at the development of further investment and wealth solutions down the track, which it will use “responsible innovation” to unlock.
“We are very excited about the future of our business and the growing role we can play in assisting more Australians build their long-term wealth.”
Betashares’ growth compliments a burgeoning area in its own right – Australia’s ETF industry. According to the firm, strong growth of the country’s ETF landscape is showing no signs of plateauing.
In fact, it believes the adoption of locally-listed ETFs in Australian portfolios are well-positioned to accelerate further compared to a number of developed markets.
It comes more than a decade after Betashares launched its first ETFs in December 2010. As of April of this year, the fund manager has seen its ETF assets under management grow by 56.9 per cent per annum, compared to the broader industry’s own pace of 31.5 per cent per annum.
Vynokur added: “The runway for growth for Betashares remains very long, and we’re working hard to build out our capabilities and services to help more Australians grow their wealth.”
Betashares further cited a key investment made into the firm as helping accelerate a range of its growth initiatives, which spans new products, services and technologies.
Namely, in June last year, Singapore-based Temasek said it would invest up to $300 million in the company, and in doing so, would acquire a minority stake in the company alongside fund managers, staff members, and private equity firm TA Associates.
During this period of growth, the fund manager also launched its retail investment platform Betashares Direct, an innovative retail investment platform designed to empower self-directed investors in building sustainable wealth. Moreover, the company announced its intention to enter into the Australian superannuation industry via the acquisition of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s superannuation business.
