Hugh Stevens buys the iSelect Uk pensions advice business

Fresh from signing up to run Betashares in New Zealand, Hugh Stevens has just bought the iSelect UK pension transfer specialist business through his holding company ARG Limited.

Monday, December 11th 2023, 10:48AM

Stevens, who previously ran the NZX-owned Smartshares business, says iSelect, a licenced fund manager, will continue to offer tax-efficient pension or superannuation solutions to its customers.

“They're quite separate roles, so I'll have to keep them at arm's length,” Stevens says.

iSelect's founder, Chris Heffernan will continue to act as senior technical advisor to the business under Stevens' ownership.

“Our new structure opens up exciting avenues for growth and allows us to tackle a wider range of pension transfer challenges faced by our clients,” Heffernan says.

Currently, iSelect offers two options for clients, either a self-select option to be managed by their financial adviser or a PIE fund option managed by Mercer.

With Stevens now at the helm, Betashares has launched six PIE funds this year to compliment the 85 Australia-based and ASX-listed ETFs.

He says he's just returned from visiting the Betashares 144-person team in Sydney.

Essentially, Betashares overlays active stock selection with index-tracking technology to replicate a number of active management strategies while keeping management fees low.

Stevens, who took Smartshares from $2.7 billion in funds under management to $10.5 billion in his five years at the helm, also sits the boards of the Government Superannuation Fund Authority and Anglican Church Pension Board.

People relocating to NZ after working in Britain for a number of years have their UK government-provided superannuation netted off from their NZ national superation entitlement.

Those who also have private UK pensions, which are usually workplace-based, have a four-year window in which they can transfer their British pension as a capital sum to NZ under the Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS), but after that, those pensions will be taxed in NZ, which is where iSelect comes in.

Stevens says UK pensions can either be defined contribution, which operate similar to our KiwiSaver structure, or defined benefit, which guarantee a specified income level for the rest of the pensioner's life.

Stevens says iSelect will continue to work with investment advisers while Betashares will also work in partnership with advisers and institutional investors and eventually will be targeting retail investors.

Stevens says his role is to look for partnership and potential acquisition opportunities in NZ so Betashares can increase its presence in this country.

Tags: iSelect