Fund Product, Company, and Regulatory Updates as at 3 August 2016

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Product Updates
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Synchron offering in-house platform with separate company
Synchron's directors have set up a separate company, Valant Capital, under Synchron's licence offering investment, superannuation, and pension accounts plus 10 model portfolios. The High Wrap platform will be administered by Powerwrap Limited. The new company is owned by John Prossor, Don Trapnell, and Dr John Morrison. 

AMP Capital China fund voted out
The AMP Capital China Growth Fund (AGF) is to be wound up after a vote in an extraordinary general meeting. Ultimately, 46.25 per cent voted for AMP Capital's enhancements to the fund in resolution one, and 54.45 per cent voted for the wind-up. 

Aviva launches new fund in Australia
Aviva Investors is to launch the AIMS (Aviva Investors' Multi-Strategy) Target Income Fund locally for the institutional and retail investor markets via platform providers. The fund's target is annual income of four per cent above the RBA cash rate, managed by Peter Fitzgerald, Ian Pizer, Nick Samouilhan and Brendan Walsh. 

Challenger launches annuity products with three super funds
Three industry super funds are launching Challenger's annuity products. Local Government Super, Legalsuper, and CareSuper are to provide their members with annuities via the AAS platform. 

Victorian government launches green bond
The Treasury Corporation of Victoria (TCV) has issued its first certified green bond for $300 million. The TCV bond is certified under the Climate Bonds Standard, and funds a range of Victorian infrastructure projects. This is a first for a government. 

Company Updates
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AMP acquires SMSF accounting platform
A self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) platform has been purchased by AMP for $2.5 million, providing data feeds from SISS Data Services, Macquarie, BankLink, Praemium and Vestdata. It also offers tax and practice management software integration, automatic income allocation, and tailored reporting facilities. 

Tasplan and RBF fund transfer approved
The Tasmanian government has approved the Tasplan and RBF Tasmanian Accumulation Scheme successor fund transfer. The merged entity will have 165,000 active members and be managing over $7.1 billion. 

NAB restructure details

  1. NAB's Personal Banking division is to become Consumer Banking  and Wealth Management, including the distribution components of Wealth Management and the  Personal Banking  network, with UBank. Andrew Hagger will lead. 
  2. Business Banking is to become Business and Private Banking, led by Angela Mentis. 
  3. A new customer-facing  business unit has been set up, Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB), joining the Corporate and Institutional Banking businesses. Acting leader is Cathryn Carver. 
  4. Products and Markets is to become Customer Products and Services, led by Antony Cahill. 
  5. The  Risk  function now includes the Legal and Governance  functions, led by David Gall.
  6. Finance, People and Bank  of New Zealand units remain unchanged, led  by Gary Lennon, Lorraine Murphy, and Anthony Healy respectively.  
  7. The changes, which are subject to regulatory approval, are effective 1 August 2016.

Regulatory Updates
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ICBC Capital AFSL cancelled
The Australian financial services licence (AFSL) of financial services provider ICBC Capital (in liquidation) (formerly known as Komodo Capital) has been cancelled by ASIC after the company was put into liquidation. The company was insolvent.