mFund gaining momentum with accountants
A recent survey shows the ASX’s mFund settlement service is becoming increasingly appealing to accountants, which is in turn driving the take-up of managed funds by SMSFs.
The OneVue/ Investment Trends 2014 SMSF Accountant Report found 13 per cent of SMSF accountants would like to start using the service for their clients.
OneVue head of client and product strategies Alex Wise said these results are significant given the mFund service was only launched in May last year.
“We expect this trend to continue as more accountants become familiar with the service,” said Mr Wise.
In addition, more than half of this accounting group plan to increase their use of managed funds through mFund.
The research indicated the main reasons for using the mFund service for SMSF accountants was to access yield-based investments, equity and infrastructure funds, and funds with international exposure for their clients.
Mr Wise said there is growing demand from SMSF investors who want to buy both managed funds and listed securities in a “simple and convenient way”.
“We expect our involvement with mFund to continue to experience substantial growth this year,” he said.
ASX head of customer and business development Ian Irvine said he was pleased to see a substantial number of accountants attracted to mFund.
“We believe there are significant opportunities for their practices to benefit from mFund’s electronic nature,” he said.
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.