OpenInvest, which helps Australia’s financial advice firms to bridge the “advice gap” and bring the benefits of professional portfolio management to a broader cohort of Australians, is now providing a data feed into BGL’s market-leading SMSF solution, Simple Fund 360 and portfolio, accounting and tax solution, Simple Invest 360.
BGL’s Simple Fund 360 SMSF software is used by more than 8,000 firms in Australia, administering more than 290,000 SMSFs, making it the largest provider in the SMSF sector.
The latest ATO data shows there are now 605,000 SMSFs, holding assets of approximately $900 billion.
Andrew Varlamos, CEO and co-founder of OpenInvest, said an increasing number of the platform’s accounts were SMSFs administered on Simple Fund 360 and that the data feed would make life easier for these administrators.
“Of the close to 40 firms who have signed up with OpenInvest for their own online investing solution, we have eight who are diversified wealth and accounting firms, and these firms in particular will be able to provide a more efficient service to their SMSFs”, Mr Varlamos said.
Ron Lesh, founder and managing director at BGL, said that as the cost of personal financial advice continues to rise, he anticipates more SMSFs will take advantage of the opportunity to digitally access professional portfolio management from an entity they know and trust, for a lower cost.
“Close to three-quarters of Australia’s SMSFs do not use a financial adviser for their investing, and yet they regularly say in surveys they want help with their investing,” he said.
“OpenInvest is giving Australia’s financial advice firms a means to offer an online investing solution via general advice, thereby allowing them to reach a broader audience.”
