Fidelity International has launched its first Global Equity separately managed account (SMA) in the Australian market, supported by Australian wealth management firm and key private wealth partner, Emanuel Whybourne & Loehr.

The Fidelity Global Top 50 ex Australia Portfolio leverages Fidelity’s research ratings globally, alongside its analysts’ top stock picks. It typically holds 50 listed equities and is managed by a highly experienced research and portfolio management team, including Sydney-based portfolio manager, Matt Jones, and UK based portfolio managers, Hiten Savani and Daniel Swift. The SMA will use Fidelity’s proprietary systematic investment process, which has been built on over 20 years of fundamental and quantitative research, alongside integrated risk management.

Lauren Jackson, head of wholesale Australia at Fidelity International,commented: “The SMA will help solve the problem that financial advisers face when allocating to core global equities. Many financial advisers still allocate passively or use discretionary active global managers at a much higher fee within their portfolios. This SMA gives financial advisers the choice to invest in an actively managed global portfolio, maintain a lower fee structure and meet the need for a core global equities solution.”

Ms. Jackson said the support from Fidelity International’s wealth partner, Emanuel Whybourne & Loehr is important to ensure the success of the Fidelity Global Top 50 ex Australia Portfolio launch.

”The firm is well respected and has a strong track record. Its knowledge and expertise will be invaluable for the roll out of this SMA, helping clients to navigate the complexities of the market, and providing support to high-net-worth investors,” Ms. Jackson continues.

Ryan Loehr, partner at Emanuel Whybourne & Loehr (EW&L Private Wealth) said: “We created our firm so we could keep pace with the changing needs of investors, and one of the most transformative changes over that time has been an increasing shift towards alternative assets. Public markets still play an incredibly important role, but fee budgets are shifting away from active equity managers. Recognising this, we wanted to achieve the best of both worlds for our clients in public equities and offer a highly competitive fee structure to rival index funds, with an active overlay from a risk and quantitative perspective from one of the world’s largest investment managers, Fidelity International.

“In partnership, this will provide our clients with the transparency, tax flexibility and ownership of some of the best listed businesses in the world, without the embedded risk, or concentration limits of an index, and at a price point that rivals the cheapest index available. This is the next frontier of active-indexing, and partnering with Fidelity International was the right step to be able to bring this first in kind solution to market for our investors.”