Præmium, the Australian business technology provider, has launched their discretionary platform service, allowing advisory and discretionary firms to launch their own branded discretionary asset management service. The platform allows access to investment models managed by discretionary fund managers via an online platform.

Advisory firms do not need discretionary management permissions to gain access to the discretionary managers' models who can be appointed to run their client’s discretionary investment portfolios. Præmium will work with discretionary fund managers and advisors to match each other with the most appropriate firms.

Discretionary firms can utilise the platform to run their own service, maintaining their own investment models and bespoke accounts for their investors. The platform allows discretionary managers to run models according to different mandates. IT maintains full independence and incorporates many of the benefits of Præmium’s technology reducing the risk, time and expense of running discretionary models.

Advisors access an investor’s account online and link to the discretionary manager model provided, or link the client account across multiple models to achieve diversification. The discretionary managers maintain their investment models separately, selecting assets and rebalancing in line with their mandate.

The platform provides a facility to automate the rebalancing of model changes across all clients’ accounts. Any other assets the client owns in addition to those in the custody of the service can also be reported alongside allowing accurate reporting on the client’s entire investment holdings.

 “This offering is much more akin to the market-leading SMA Service we run in Australia where investors have their own portfolio managed by a variety of Independent Investment Managers,” said John Martin, managing director of Præmium.

“This is also ideal for firms wanting to move towards discretionary management. Advisors can begin moving clients into discretionary accounts on the platform using available discretionary models until they have the necessary permissions to manage the portfolios themselves,” he added.

Præmium currently provides services to over 490 financial institutions and intermediaries, including some of Australia’s largest financial institutions. It listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in May 2006 to raise capital for further expansion. Since opening a London office in June 2006, the company has focused on tailoring its services for the UK regulatory and taxation environment.