FNZ to expand adviser platform solution to include private assets
FNZ, the software provider behind many of the UK’s biggest adviser platforms, is planning to give retail investors access to private asset funds on its clients’ platforms from next year.
FNZ’s platform software sits behind $1.5tn (£1.2tn) in assets under administration, with clients including Quilter, Aviva and Abrdn.
The expansion will enable advisers and wealth managers to invest directly in private equity and credit funds through their platforms for the first time, according to a report in Citywire New Model Adviser.
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Private assets are growing quickly in popularity but cannot be accessed easily by retail clients. FNZ is working with large private market investors to create a pooling structure that will aggregate investments from its clients’ customers into private asset funds, the report said.
“We’re keen to see a solution to get private equity and private debt funds on platforms and into retail portfolios,” FNZ chief executive Adrian Durham told Citywire New Model Adviser.
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“Around 15 to 20 per cent of all global markets are in private assets, retail investors don’t have access and are missing out on a big portion of the risk/return equation, which is very unfair.”
Private markets are less liquid than public markets, which can be off-putting to professional and retail investors. To address this, FNZ is working to provide a liquidity assurance. This could potentially be Lombard lending – lending against the portfolio to provide partial liquidity.
“Putting it all together, you’ll have a product not too dissimilar to a mutual fund for retail investors,” said Durham.
FNZ is aiming to launch the new private markets offering in the second or third quarter of next year.
