New boutique fund manager NakedFunds Management has launched an Australian equities fund that will disclose all its trades and reward highly engaged investors with bonus units and fee rebates.
"Unlike most fund managers, we reveal all of our holdings and all of our trades. This means the typical 'smoke and mirror' scenario around how a fund is managed and what it invests in are removed," the firm's founder and chief executive, Tim Bryden, said.
The NakedFunds Australian Share Fund aims to provide investors with capital growth and performance in excess of the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Accumulation Index over a period of at least five years.
Bryden said the philosophy behind NakedFunds was born during the global financial crisis when he recognised investors wanted to know and understand what they were investing in.
He said by embracing online capabilities, NakedFunds directly engaged investors and potential investors so they could understand why investment decisions were being made.
"To participate, people become members. It's free to join and the process is simple, similar to signing up to Facebook," he said.
"Once signed in, members can share their opinion on a weekly basis about a specific investment focus each month.
"And by engaging with our members, we believe we gain a unique investment edge. Our investment committee takes a deeper look and may even potentially change its thinking on a stock or trend if members' insights are a surprise or are at odds with what the market thinks."
NakedFunds members are rewarded for their input and each month those who earn the most points for their contributions will receive bonus units in the fund.
"Each member also has their own status, which measures their historical feedback," Bryden said.
"With every status level, members receive further benefits, including ongoing fee rebates. Up to 70 per cent of the fund's fee could be rebated through this reward system."
The fund has a base management fee of 1.8 per cent a year.
Bryden has over 15 years' experience in finance and funds management and has worked at Intech Investment Consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers and BT Funds Management.
