North expands managed accounts menu and Betashares partnership

AMP has announced the inclusion of three new managers on its platform North over the March quarter, including Innova Asset Management, AZ Sestante, and Watershed Funds Management, to provide advisers with more investment choices on-platform.

According to the firm, these new additions bring the number of “buy” managed portfolios to over 150 across 25 managers, supported by almost 400 “build” portfolios across almost every consultant in the market.

“North’s managed accounts, along with its unique Lifetime solution, have been central to North attracting many new advisers, and the addition of these new managers and portfolios is in response to growing demand from new and existing advisers alike,” the firm said.

Innova Asset Management is a boutique investment management firm that takes a multidisciplinary approach to management, offering risk-focused portfolio solutions that are tailored to individual client needs and a systematic, rules-based approach to portfolio construction.

With expertise in designing and managing multi-manager model portfolios, AZ Sestante provides a “robust, repeatable process designed to meet all market conditions” in a cost-effective manner aimed at guiding advisers and investors to meet their goals.

Meanwhile, the firm said that Watershed Funds Management would partner with North through its “embedded models” approach to enable “strategic positioning throughout the investment cycle”.

This approach is further supported by Watershed’s testing of economic and market outlooks against current market pricing to identify and hold high-quality companies for the medium to long term across all asset classes.

In addition to these new account managers, North has also strengthened its partnership with Betashares by creating the “first targeted geared retirement series of its kind in Australia” – the Betashares Moderately Geared Managed Account Portfolios.

Now available on North, this series was designed to increase exposure to defensive assets and income while offering a cost-effective way for advisers to leverage exposure to the share market through internally geared exchange-traded funds (ETF) that borrow at institutional interest rates that are “considerably lower” than what is typically available to individual investors.

AMP group executive of platforms Edwina Maloney suggested that North intends to continue working with investment managers to further expand their offering.

“At North, we have a singular focus on ensuring our platform continues to set the pace by partnering with best-of-breed managers to provide advisers and their clients with access to high-quality solutions and investment offerings to suit different client segments and needs,” Maloney said.

“This is our largest ever Buy Menu refresh and firmly places North at the forefront of the market when it comes to the quality, choice and breadth of investment options that we provide to advisers and their practices.”

AMP general manager of managed portfolios and investments David Hutchison said the addition of the three fund managers and subsequent expansion of the platform’s investment menu highlights AMP’s ongoing commitment to improving its offering for advisers and their clients.

“We’re also thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Betashares to launch a unique geared retirement series on North, the first of its kind in the Australian market,” Hutchison said.

“It’s another example of how North continues to innovate in retirement solutions, ensuring we are the platform of choice for more advisers across Australia.”