The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relative to wealth advisors and their clients.

FNZ
Global wealth management platform FNZ has launched what it calls a low-risk cash alternative to professional investors such as banks, asset managers and pension funds. The rollout comes at a time when interest rates have risen, making long-dated bonds less attractive than those with shorter maturities.

The FNZ Yield Plus offer investors a higher yield than comparably rated government bonds with the same maturity, FNZ said in a statement. The notes, which are available in dollars, euros and sterling, are customised for other currencies, the firm said. 

“For the first time, through our FNZ structured investment team, we have delivered an outsourced manufacturing note to investors,” Adam Green, FNZ’s chief executive of global asset management solutions, said.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has raised over $200 million in its European Long Term Investment Fund (“ELTIF”), Private Markets ELTIF 2023.

The fund will provide individual investors with access to direct private market investments managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. It is intended to be the first in a series of Private Markets ELTIFs, through which individual investors can access the performance and diversification benefits of private markets, the firm said in a statement. Through the Private Markets ELTIF 2023, Goldman Sachs intends to provide exposure to investments spanning a range of sectors and strategies, primarily in private equity and supplemented with a smaller allocation to higher yielding private credit.

While diversified, the composition of the portfolio is expected to reflect the areas of the market where deal flow is most active, leaning into the most compelling sectors and strategies in what is a rapidly-changing investment landscape. The fund is intended to be globally diversified. Designed in principle for high net worth investors who can make a longer-term illiquid investment, the fund will be fully funded at launch, with an expected short investment period, the firm continued.

“Institutional investors have long benefitted from private investments, which have the potential to provide higher returns, portfolio diversification, and access to unique opportunities. Now, individuals will also be able to get exposure to private investments through our Private Markets ELTIF, a fund specifically designed to meet the needs of individual investors,” Barry Fricke, EMEA head of alternatives distribution for wealth at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said. 

Allfunds
Allfunds, a B2B wealthtech platform for the funds industry, has announced the launch of the Allfunds Private Partners programme.

Earlier this year, Allfunds announced that it had launched a specialised team and department, Allfunds Alternative Solutions, focused on providing solutions to make alternative funds more accessible to distributors. This initiative was triggered by the increasing demand from distributors globally, particularly from the wealth management segment, to invest in private assets, the firm said in a statement. The AAS team has been developing the technology that will streamline the operational aspects of private asset investments, making access to alternative funds as simple as that of conventional funds. 

In addition to its technological roadmap, this week the firm announced the launch of Allfunds Private Partners programme – an initiative to provide better access to private market funds for its clients and to enable fund managers to make their products available to Allfunds' distribution network.

Allfunds said that some prominent alternative asset management and financial services firms, including Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle, Franklin Templeton, and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, have joined as the first participants of this programme. “We are excited about this project and unlocking the full potential of APP, and believe that this form of collaboration with our partners is key in developing solid relationships and effective solutions,” Juan Alcaraz, CEO of Allfunds, said.

Downing Fund Managers
Boutique investment house, Downing Fund Managers, a division of Downing, has become the latest client of investment platform Third Financial.

The initial phase of the partnership sees Third providing its technology and custody service to support Downing Fund Managers Alternative Investment Market (AIM) Inheritance Tax (IHT) business line, meaning that it will administer around £100 million ($131 million) of assets, the firm said in a statement. The parties are committed to exploring further areas of cooperation when onboarding this business completes this month. The move signals Downing’s commitment to stability and integrity while taking advantage of Third’s leading position in the investment platform market.

Third’s Investment Platform service streamlines and automates operational processes and provides oversight of the entire investment lifecycle to mitigate risks through one single system more effectively for all clients.