Bell Direct hits back at mFund critics
Bell Direct’s chief executive Arnie Selvarajah has hit out at critics of the ASX’s mFund service, saying a significant portion of the criticism is coming from those who are “threatened” by it.
Speaking to SMSF Adviser, Mr Selvarajah said the wealth marketplace is dominated by “four or five big players” who are trying to slow progress and innovation to secure their own income.
“I think you’ll find a lot of the criticism is coming from those people who are more threatened by mFund,” Mr Selvarajah said.
He explained he is a “strong believer” that the success of mFund will evolve over time.
“It’s going to take some time, there’s no doubt, we’re going to need to get brokers on board, going to need to have funds on board [and] going to need to have client demand,” he said.
The SMSF sector in particular will benefit from mFund, Mr Selvarajah suggested.
“[The] SMSF sector, that’s the biggest chunk in terms of value. Traditionally their portfolio construction consists mainly of domestic equities and very little to international [equities] or other markets and other asset classes,” Mr Selvarajah said.
“Getting access to managed funds means that they’re going to have a broader view of how their portfolio should be constructed so I think that in itself is a very important innovation for the market. It means that their portfolios are going to be better constructed, it means that they’re going to be performing better.”
