Colonial First State (CFS) will launch its new full service wrap, FirstWrap, using Avanteos platform functionality in early June.
It is being touted as the next big thing in the wrap market by a number of unnamed fund managers.
The wrap will be priced quite differently from CFS’s FirstChoice platform.
There will be around 400 investment options, including separately managed accounts (SMA) and direct shares.
CFS has been quiet over the past few months following the merger of BT and Westpac and their creation of Australia’s largest wealth management company.
It is believed to have been working on a product to compete head to head with the mega group and the new wrap is believed to be the first weapon in its armoury.
A number of fund managers have already signed up to list products on the platform, including some that are just now entering the retail space.
According to the 2008 Investment Trends Platform Report launched last week, Avanteos topped the functionality rankings for full function platforms. Navigator was second, followed by Macquarie Wrap, netwealth and Asgard eWrap.
CFS’s FirstChoice/FirstNet Adviser was highly placed for standard function platforms, demonstrating significant functionality even when compared to full function platforms, Investment Trends analyst Andrew Knox said.
Knox said if CFS was to launch a new platform with new functionality it would gain traction.
“I think there’s a certain proportion of planners using FirstChoice that would appreciate something similar, but with extras such as SMAs and equities. It would be beneficial for planners already using FirstChoice,” he said.
CFS head of retail distribution Paul Barrett will be in charge of distributing the new wrap. “We’ve been assessing the opportunity to do this for the last 12 months and are very confident that the administration and technical platform that FirstWrap will be based upon will be leading edge,” Barrett said.
“Our research indicated there’s a real demand for an end-to-end platform offering from CFS that caters to the mass affluent and sophisticated markets and there is a real appetite to a strong alternative wrap in the market.
“FirstWrap and FirstChoice are a perfect pair for advisers to have at their disposal and choose from depending on clients’ circumstances and needs.”
