Portfolio administration service provider Praemium is poised to sign deals with a number of United Kingdom-based firms for the roll out of its separately managed account (SMA) offering.
However, despite Praemium’s readiness, no deals can be finalised as they are still awaiting licensing approval from the UK’s Financial Services Authority.
“We lodged our prospectus for our first two funds in the UK on December 31 and we’re now waiting. This is the end game now. It’s a case of once we get the authorisation through we will then be licensed to operate in the UK,” Praemium managing director Arthur Naoumidis said.
Naoumidis could not comment on when Praemium’s application is expected to go ahead, though he said he has not been notified of any issues that may halt its approval.
“We’re continuing with our system deployment in the UK and also busy hiring and training staff. On the marketing front we’ve been very active in finding potential clients who are keen to adopt our services as soon as we’re authorised to operate,” he said.
Praemium’s planned expansion into the UK has not been without strain.
According to the group’s December quarter cash flow statement, the company has shed $971,000 more than the preceding quarter.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, the outflow was justified as being due to additional expenses in the UK associated with the extended due diligence of its UK operation by the proposed Trustee which amounted to about $500,000.
The company stated the amount is likely to be a one-off expense.
Another contributor was the payment of the staff payments which amounted to about $1 million.
Praemium announced its plans to expand into the UK market through an SMA business late last year.
