(pictured: Jack Gray)
Robo-advice newcomer Clover is further institutionalising its offering, due to be launched about the middle of next year, with the recruitment of high-profile fund manager and academic Jack Gray to its small investment committee.
Clover, co-founded by a former consultant to Equip who helped build the $7 billion fund’s My Pension product, Harry Chemay, has placed 27 per cent of its stock with Equip, it was announced in September. The price was not disclosed.
Danielle Press, Equip chief executive, was quoted by Fairfax Media as saying at the time: “We looked very hard for an off-the-shelf solution in the US, UK or Europe that we could adapt to the local market but couldn’t find anything suitable so decided to work with a trusted partner on developing a custom platform.
“To bring a team of developers in-house would have cost substantially more and risked leaving us with a platform that had legacy issues in a few years time. This way we can make sure the technology we need can continue to evolve in a sustainable way.”
Last week Clover announced that Jack Gray would become head of an investment committee, alongside Chemay and investments head Sahil Kaura.
Gray has had a wide range of experiences in the super and funds management communities locally and internationally. He was a fund manager with GMO in Australia and the US, with AMP before that and is currently a part-time executive director of Brookvine. He is also a former chief investment officer of Sunsuper. He continues to do advisory and research work with the University of Technology Sydney, including its associated Paul Woolley Centre which funds research into capital markets ‘dysfunctionality’.
Clover is likely to expand its fledgling investment committee in the coming months, possibly with the inclusion of an Equip representative. Equip manages about a third of its assets internally, under chief investment officer Michael Strachan, and with advice from JANA Investment Advisers.
Clover also plans to have its own AFSL earlier next year prior to its launch, something which only a handful of robo-advice firms have put in the effort to achieve. Ignition Wealth, another robo-advisor which is a little more advanced, has been granted its licence and one suspects that Macquarie, which also announced its intended entry to the robo market, will not have much problem obtaining a licence.