I hope the new year has started off well for you all, despite not being quite the smooth start to 2022 we’d hoped for in markets. Despite the shaky markets, we have a number of positive developments to inform you of which will continue to enhance our service offering.  

Detailed super fund research available soon in Mosaic

This month, we’ll be releasing detailed qualitative research and ratings assessment reports on some of the industry’s major super funds into Mosaic. The comprehensive reports are produced by our Group partner and highly respected super fund data and research business, Chant West, and include detailed information about:

  • the investment team, their investment philosophy and portfolio management process
  • the team’s approach to responsible investment (RI) and relevant RI classifications, and
  • detailed portfolio information including asset allocation, underlying investment manager allocations and investment option performance.

While the reports currently available cover a range of leading super funds, more funds will be added to the suite of Mosaic reports over time.

In other Chant West news, their 2022 overall super fund ratings were published at the end of January. This is a mammoth exercise for the team, reviewing and rating 125 super products and 86 pension products over many months. Not surprisingly, investments and member services carry the highest weighting in the overall rating, as it’s these two factors that have the greatest impact on the retirement outcomes of Australians. For more detailed information about the rating methodology and the individual fund ratings, visit Chant West’s website where all fund ratings are published and publicly available.

Growing our national footprint

We recently welcomed a new Business Development Manager to our team to further drive the growth of our managed accounts, investment research and asset allocation service offering in Queensland. Based in Brisbane, Gordon Roebuck joins the team from AMP/North and we’re looking forward to the wealth of experience and strong local relationships he’ll bring to John Nicoll’s team.

The new appointment comes at a time of substantial business growth for us and with increased demand from Queensland-based clients, a dedicated BDM in the region will enable us to better support local clients and grow our national footprint.

What’s next?

Our integration with the FE fundinfo business is progressing well and we’re working closely with their team, both here and in London, to determine the most competitive and client-focused way to integrate and enhance our service offerings. We’ll have more information to share with you over the coming months but there’s no doubt that our combined offering will create a more compelling and powerful service offering for all Zenith clients.

We’ve also been exploring a more efficient way to communicate the highlights from our detailed sector reports. We’ll be trialling a sector report podcast, starting with the small caps sector at the end of the month. Keep an eye out for an update on this initiative shortly.

In closing

As mentioned earlier, we look to be in for increased volatility in investment markets over the short to medium term. Market volatility generally occurs in times of uncertainty and there’s a lot for markets to digest on this front with inflation pressures emerging, central banks moving to a less accommodative position on interest rates while at the same time reducing or removing quantitative easing, governments removing Covid-19 related fiscal incentives, uncertainty over new Covid strains and the geopolitical tensions of Russia and Ukraine.

As evidenced in the significant market correction of February / March 2020, the ability to rebalance and reposition portfolios quickly during volatile markets is invaluable in protecting investors’ capital. This is one of the key advantages of managed accounts and we’re well-positioned to assist in this area with a range of platform based managed accounts and customised managed account portfolio solutions.

 

Best wishes

David Wright

Chief Executive Officer