Online wealth management firm Novia Global has teamed up with custody and settlement service firm Winterflood Business Services to offer multi-currency exchange-traded funds (including Sterling, US dollar and Euro) on its platform. The move will open up a broader range of investment options and asset classes to international investors.

Bill Vasilieff, CEO at Novia

The newly added suite of ETFs will include funds listed on both the UK and European exchanges. The total number of ETFs on offer through Novia’s platform now stands at 100 physically backed and synthetically replicated ETFs, from nine providers.

Bill Vasilieff, CEO of Novia told ETF Strategy that this service has been implemented on the back of demand for this type of product and in particular from Discretionary Fund Managers (DFMs) wanting US denominated ETF exposure.

“We can put any ETF onto the platform in a matter of days, at the moment we have the most popular and specifically asked for on the platform. We see a lot of interest in ETFs from outside the UK – this is very much true for the US and also in Europe. The reason for this is that Unit Trusts’s and OEICs have a big hold in the UK,” he said.

Alex Kerry, Head of Winterflood Business Services added: “We continue to support one of the UK’s leading wealth management platforms to innovate and deliver more efficient and cost-effective solutions to advisers and end investors. This partnership will enable more advisers to access cutting-edge technology, providing a broader range of investment options and asset classes to international clients.”

This is not the first time Novia and Winterflood have teamed up. In 2015 they collaborated in a bid to improve access to ETFs for independent financial advisers (IFAs) by looking at ways to reduce costs and boost trading.  In trying to minimise costs, Novia aggregates ETF trading by sharing the trading fees with those transacting that day.

Dave Field, Head of Customer Service at Novia Global, said: “We have seen an enormous and rising demand for ETFs from both within our European jurisdictions and from further afield where ETFs are more common place than they are in the UK.  This demand is driven not only by our international intermediaries looking to provide their clients and investors with the precision investment, granularity and traditionally low cost alternatives that ETFs can offer; but also from DFMs who are increasingly using these instruments in their model portfolio building for accurate asset allocation.

“Novia Global recently launched a new Discretionary Management service with strategic partnerships in place now with Marlborough, Smith & Williamson, MitonOptimal, Tavistock Investments and Copia Capital Management.  Many of these managers are embracing ETFs and the ability for the platform to provide seamless access to these investments and fully integrate them into the portfolio construction tools such as our market leading Model Portfolio Manager service, can provide substantial time and cost efficiencies for both the intermediary and the DFM.”

The trading charge for the service is set at five basis points per order for UK Instruments (subject to a minimum of £5 per trade) and eight basis points per order for International instruments (subject to a minimum of £10, $14, or €12.50 per trade depending on the jurisdiction the ETF is listed in). There will also be a settlement fee which will vary according to jurisdiction.

Novia Global is available to advisers dealing in the international market, private banks, Trust companies and their clients as well as certain other professional investors. It currently supports advisers and trust companies based in a variety of jurisdictions including the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Europe and Hong Kong. Further geographical jurisdictions are currently in the works with the intention of quickly further extending platform presence. ETF providers wanting to join the platform will be added in response to demand.

In May this year Winterflood became the second firm to offer fractional share trading. It enables investors to trade ETFs at four decimal places.