Despite being a growing reservoir of funds under management, this critically important pool of capital is confronting mounting problems collating and disseminating key data in a timely manner.
The ratings house is pinning its growth strategy on a revamped methodology that increases the emphasis on governance to 25 per cent – a timely move considering APRA’s proposed reforms.
Industry gets behind Evolution’s new TV series
(Pictured: Vanessa Stoykov)
With the endorsement of the Financial Services Council and support from leading research houses, marketing and television company Evolution Media has launched an investment version of its No More Practice online and broadcast series.
The premiere show will be on Sky Business at the prime time of 8.30pm, next Sunday, July 6. It will then screen weekly on Sky on Saturdays at 8.30am and Sundays at 7.30am and 8.30pm. It will also be broadcast on TV4ME, the Seven Network’s digital channel, at 7.30pm on Tuesdays.
The investment series is a major step up for Evolution Media, especially given the authority added to it by its key contributors: the FSC, Portfolio Construction Forum, Lonsec Research, van Eyk Research, Zenith Investment Partners, netwealth Investments and the ASX.
Because of its extended reach over the previous series, which were designed primarily for financial planners, Evolution Media has built a bespoke website with additional educational material to act as a springboard for viewers who want to then progress to the more technical information given to the industry via the company’s main website.
At a launch function in Sydney last week, Evolution Media founder, Vanessa Stoykov, said the financial services industry had not been effective in engaging and communicating the potential of wealth advice, especially around the value of active funds management.
She said the TV series was timely given the recent launch of the ASX mFund initiative, which allows applications and redemtions of managed funds on the ASX through stock brokers.
John Brogden, the chief executive of the FSC, said the funds management sector was one of Australia’s least-well known success stories because consumers did not have much to do with it.
“With Australia’s funds under management of an estimated $2.2 trillion, it’s the third-largest pool in the world. Our industry is on a world scale and is world class.”
During the series, the researchers – called ‘guardians’ – quiz various fund managers about their strategies and products before issuing personal assessments on them. But Mark Thomas, managing director of van Eyk, said the series was not just about products or commissions. It brought the whole agenda of the industry of people, processes and organisations.
Graham Rich, the publisher of Portfolio Construction Forum, observed that it was rare to get together a group of people in a collaborative effort to explain the machinery of the industry.
“This is an opportunity for us to say ‘we contribute and we’re proud of it’.”
