19th April 2017
Harbour Asset Management has partnered with online investment platform InvestNow to offer all their retail funds to direct investors.
Andrew Bascand, Managing Director at Harbour Asset Management, said InvestNow offered the firm an ideal digital solution for self-directed investors looking to access its funds.
Bascand said some investors were increasingly demanding the ability to transact and control their own portfolio online – and this demand for choice was a trend the industry could not ignore.
“We recognise that many New Zealanders want choice in how they control their investments. We encourage investors to work with professional financial advisers if they choose to. But we also see investors across the age spectrum looking for online non-advised solutions,” Bascand said. “We’re pleased to be offering those direct investors a great solution via InvestNow.”
The innovative service InvestNow launched in January 2017 to provide a range of investors – including retail, wholesale and offshore-based New Zealanders as well as trusts – direct access to high-quality investment products.
Founded by Anthony Edmonds, head of Wellington-based fund specialist firm Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS), InvestNow offers clients a cost-effective, seamless way to buy funds online.
Unlike some investment platforms, InvestNow does not charge clients any administration or other hidden fees. Clients only pay the clearly-disclosed funds management fee, which is charged by the underlying manager.
Using a single, secure online sign-on process, InvestNow clients can also switch between funds on the platform – or construct a portfolio covering a wide variety of local and global asset classes – with a simple online anti-money laundering (AML) identification process.
“While not all investors like to go it alone, we believe there is a significant number of them who feel comfortable buying managed funds themselves but – until InvestNow – have lacked a clean, simple and cost-effective way of accessing products,” Edmonds said. “Consumers today expect to be able to buy almost anything themselves online and investments should be no different – in fact, using the internet to access managed funds is a no-brainer for sophisticated investors.”
“In the past we’ve had limited options for non-advised, digitally savvy investors,” Bascand said. “Importantly, we see these investors as a new market for us, complementary to those clients who use financial advisers to access our funds.”
Established in 2009, Wellington-based Harbour Asset Management over $3 billion under management in Australasian equities and New Zealand fixed income, across both retail and wholesale investors. Harbour Asset Management was named Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year in 2017, 2016 and 2014.