What is the objective of the service?

Zenith's Adviser Research Service aims to provide advisers with all of the necessary research information, reports and tools in order to deliver a premium financial advisory service to their clients.

What does the service provide

Fund Research

1. Recommended Product List – the recommended product list provides an exclusive list of funds assessed by Zenith as being the premier investment options in each asset class. This includes both mainstream asset classes such as Australian Equities, International Equities, Property, Australian Fixed Interest, International Fixed Interest and “alternative” asset classes such as hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure and structured fixed interest products. These funds include those managed by both mainstream and boutique fund managers.
2. Product Assessment Reports updated monthly >> sample report (240kB)
3. Product Profile Reports updated monthly >> sample report (167kB)
4. Quantitative Report updated monthly >> sample report (202kB)
5. Sector Update Report updated monthly >> sample report (112kB)

Model Portfolios

Zenith's model portfolios are designed to provide the adviser with properly constructed investment portfolios that are proactively monitored and maintained on an ongoing basis. Zenith provides model portfolios for:

• Conservative Risk Profile
• Balanced Risk Profile
• Growth Risk Profile

And for those advisers seeking to construct model portfolios using their own asset allocation Zenith also provides model portfolios of:

• Australian Equity Funds
• International Equity Funds
• Australian Fixed Interest Funds
• International Fixed Interest
• Income Fund Portfolio
• Property Fund Portfolio
• Absolute Return Portfolio

The model portfolios provide all of the necessary information and reports to enable advisers to manage their client’s portfolios in an effective and proactive way. This includes:

1. Properly constructed investment (risk) profiles;
2. Recommended portfolios of funds for each risk profile;
3. Multiple portfolios for different investment amounts under each risk profile;
4. Model portfolios for different Wrap and administration platforms;
5. Recommended Portfolio reports providing details of the funds included in the portfolio, rationale for the combination of funds used and portfolio returns history. >> sample report

Investment Committee Participation

Participation on our client’s investment committees is an integral component of Zenith’s adviser research service. This facilitates open communication covering recent manager reviews, fund rating changes, model portfolio changes, recent industry developments and other research related issues. Importantly, it also provides a forum for adviser feedback and queries regarding all aspects of research and provides an invaluable source of information to enable us to ensure that Zenith's research service meets the ongoing requirements of the advisory group.

Research Tools

Through the Analysis Toolpack in the website, Zenith’s adviser research service provides, search and filter tools and performance and risk charting options to assist advisers in fund selection and portfolio construction for clients.

How is this service delivered

The Zenith Adviser Research service is provided via the Zenith Investment Partners www.zenithpartners.com.au website. Each user is provided with a unique member ID and password which provides access to the recommended product list, model portfolios, fund reports and model portfolio reports.

The service can also be customised to be accessed through the advisory group’s own website if desired.

There are both email and website alerts for fund manager and product recommendation changes and / or announcements.

Email & Website Alerts

Changes to the Recommended Product list and / or Recommended Portfolios and reasons for these changes are communicated to advisers via email and through the website. One of the cornerstones of Zenith's service to advisers is the provision of timely and proactive communication to ensure the adviser is always fully informed to enable them to effectively service their clients.

Benefits to advisers

The Zenith Adviser Research Service is specifically targeted at the investment research needs of financial advisers. As such, the service provides a wide range of benefits including:

1. Superior fund selection – the Zenith Adviser Research Service removes the need and time consuming task of advisers identifying and selecting funds. Zenith identifies and selects the best managers and products in each category to form the recommended product list. In addition, Zenith provides ongoing advice and guidance on how the funds should be used and positioned within client portfolios.
2. Improved returns to clients – products included on the recommended list and in the model portfolios are specifically selected with the objective of providing clients with above average returns with below average volatility (compared to their competitors) over the medium to longer term.
3. Enhanced Compliance – with increasing compliance requirements under ASIC’s new licensing regime and an increase in litigation for negligence, it is extremely important that advisers “cover all necessary bases” when providing investment advice to their clients. Many advisers do not have the time or resources required to construct, monitor and maintain efficient portfolios for their clients. The Zenith Adviser Research Service provides this expertise and also ensures that the portfolios are actively monitored and proactively managed on an ongoing basis.
4. Improved client service – with the portfolio construction and ongoing monitoring and maintenance provided by Zenith, the adviser is then "freed up" to spend more time on client servicing and other business building activities.
5. Minimisation of business risk – the use of an efficient combination of managers for each portfolio ensures that the adviser’s business is not over exposed to any one investment manager or fund, thereby reducing any unnecessary risk to the adviser's business.
6. Back office efficiencies – the use of properly constructed model portfolios for each type of client risk profile will also greatly assist in generating operating and administrative efficiencies within the adviser’s office. This should result in less paper work and time spent in the administration of the portfolios resulting in reduced administrative costs.

Zenith Investment Partners provide asset consulting services to superannuation trustees, small to medium sized corporates, financial advisers and accountants responsible for advising and administering corporate superannuation funds.

Unlike many of the large asset consulting firms, Zenith do not operate their own implemented consulting service and therefore avoids any potential conflicts of interest in the services provided to their clients. In addition, as Zenith is a privately owned Australian firm without global parentage, the service provided to Australian clients is not compromised by manager selections from non-Australian divisions of the group. This allows Zenith to identify and select the best managers from an Australian perspective for Australian based clients.

Zenith’s asset consulting services include:

1. Asset Allocation Advice – Zenith provides strategic (longer term) asset allocation advice for both defined benefit and accumulation superannuation funds. This involves setting longer term asset allocation based on the risk profiles of the fund members.
2. Fund Manager Selection – Zenith specialises in the selection of managers and manager combinations for inclusion in corporate superannuation and investment funds.
3. Fund Design & Structure – through its extensive experience within investment research and the financial services industry, Zenith is well positioned to provide superannuation trustees and / or small and medium sized corporates with fund design and structure advice. This involves assessing the demographic profile of the fund members, setting investment strategies and objectives and constructing appropriate investment options to specifically satisfy the fund membership base.
4. Ongoing Monitoring & Management – a critical component of Zenith’s asset consulting service is the ongoing monitoring and management of the managers employed. Zenith prides themselves on proactively replacing underperforming managers and / or those managers not remaining "true to label".
5. Performance Reporting – comprehensive performance reports are provided detailing the overall performance of the fund, the contribution of each manager to the overall performance and comparisons against competitors and industry benchmarks. This enables Zenith’s clients to easily compare the returns Zenith has achieved against those of their competitors.

Zenith Investment Partners provides a range of research consulting services to financial advisory groups, fund managers, superannuation trustees and other investment product providers. That is, Zenith can be commissioned to provide:

1. Specific Research Reports – Zenith provides independent research reports on both existing and new investment products including managed funds, listed investment companies, listed fixed interest securities and unlisted property investments. These reports can be provided to the manager / product offeror as a “public” research report or as an internal, consultative report which highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the particular investment offer.
2. Product Development Advice – having extensive experience researching and analysing thousands of investment products and structures over many years, Zenith are able to provide advice on new product development. This includes an assessment and recommendations covering product structure, investment objective, investment strategy, fees, content of product disclosure document, likely investor demand and product positioning strategy.
3. Investment Menu Advice - Zenith provides consulting services to master fund, wrap platform and other administration service operators regarding the selection of funds and fund managers that makeup the investment menu of funds on the platform. This service can be customised to work within the particular provider’s investment criteria and / or requirements.
4. Manage-the-manager selection – Zenith specialises in the provision of investment portfolios combining different manager investment styles and allocations. As such, Zenith has extensive expertise in combining managers within portfolios in order to deliver expected risk / return outcomes. This service is provided to master funds, wrap accounts, investment advisory groups and other investment product providers who offer manage-the-manager (fund-of-fund) investment options to investors. This covers all asset classes and combinations of asset classes and can be tailored to the specific requirements of the product provider.

With Advisers fiduciary responsibilities becoming increasingly demanding, investment markets becoming more sophisticated, investment choices proliferating and regulatory requirements becoming more complex there has never been more need for education.

As Zenith specialise in the identification and assessment of managers, the construction of portfolios and the review of alternative and structured products. This knowledge and experience provides Zenith’s investment professionals with the ideal background to provide adviser education on these topics.

Zenith’s Adviser Education services include:

1. Presentations – Zenith regularly presents on a wide range of investment related topics at adviser group professional development days, conferences and workshops.
2. Publications – Zenith can be commissioned to produce investment papers on a wide range of industry related topics including, fund manager selection, portfolio construction, portfolio optimisation, statistical analysis measures, industry trends and investment strategy and objective setting.

The timing and content of presentations and / or courses can be tailored to meet the needs of individual clients. If required, Zenith can seek to have the presentations accredited by the Financial Planning Association or Securities Institute of Australia for continuing professional education (CPE) recognition.