Financial services firm Fiducian is in talks with a number of licensees to badge its self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) administration offering.
“We’ve spoken to quite a few. Obviously for some of them it’s quite a big step but again it’s not like badging a platform – it’s an option for most of them and that also comes into play when deciding just how much we’re going to configure it,” Fiducian head of operations and business solutions Patrick Jackson said.
“So far we have a lot of interest with a lot of licensees seeming to be reviewing their arrangements at the moment … so it’s a good opportunity for us to get out there.”
Fiducian began investigating an SMSF offering last year following the sector’s growth and demand from financial advisers.
The firm settled on a soft launch for its SMSF administration offering earlier this year.
“It’s driven by the growth in the sector. So while through the financial planning subsidiary and through IDPS we were getting some exposure to the market, for such an interesting segment I don’t think we had enough of a foothold in it,” Jackson said.
“So for our financial planners – both the tied planners and others who support Fiducian as the independents who support Fiducian services – we thought we’d go the extra mile and offer the full admin services.”
At present, Fiducian offers investment services through its wrap for SMSFs, with about 30 per cent of the money in the wrap actually from the trustees of SMSFs, Jackson said.
The listed company has developed the new administration offering through its existing Fiducian Business Services division.
“The division offers bookkeeping services directly to accountants – we have simply leveraged off that capability and added the superannuation aspect around that and gone to market with an SMSF admin offering,” Jackson said.
“We’re not targeting trustees directly. We’re offering services to Australian financial services licensees and accountants.”
The offering is built around an online portal that allows financial advisers and accountants to control and view their clients’ accounts online, he said.
