Independent financial planning dealer group AFS is about to roll out an end-to-end service for advisers operating in the self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) sector.
The facility, called SMSF Select, offers advisers the ability to satisfy all of their SMSF clients' needs such as establishment of the fund, placing investments for the fund and fulfilling all of the administrative and compliance requirements for the fund.
The service was drawn from the expertise of several business partners including OneVue, Bell Direct, AR Group and BGL Corporate solutions.
OneVue will provide transaction services and a unified managed account, Bell Direct, will be used for direct equity transactions. AR Group will provide the administration services and BGL Corporate solutions will provide the portal for the service.
"What we sought for our advisers was a true end-to-end compliant solution," AFS managing director Peter Daly said.
SMSF Select also allows advisers to unbundle the services they feel are not needed in the servicing of their SMSF clients.
For example, if the adviser and the client already have established a relationship with a particular accounting firm and as such do not feel the need to use the facility for year-end audits and the like from the AR Group, they can choose not to use it.
In these situations the pricing will vary accordingly.
The facility can be accessed via the internet and is being priced on a fund-by-fund basis with the typical cost being around $1920 per fund. It will be available for advisers to use at the beginning of June.
"We have made the process collectively of setting up and transacting on a self-managed super fund as easy as possible so that planners can concentrate on the customer relationship and not be inundated by the administrative burden that often occurs when you're trying to get established in what is clearly one of the fastest-growing sectors in the market," OneVue group chief executive Connie McKeage said.
Daly would not comment on rumours regarding a possible purchase of AFS by an institution that was leaked to the industry this week.
