Enhancements benefit brokers and investors
La Trobe Financial continues to enhance the experience it offers to brokers and investors, most recently with upgrades to its broker portal and its investor platform.
The alternative asset manager, which specialises in funding and investment solutions, is one of the country’s leading credit asset managers and credit specialists. It has long advocated three golden rules of investing: simplicity, diversification and patience.
It recently announced further increases to interest rates (effective 1 April 2023) on its six core investment offerings: Classic Notice, 90-Day Notice, 6-Month Notice, 12-Month Term Account, 2-Year Account and 4-Year Accounts.
La Trobe Financial chief investment officer Chris Paton (pictured above) told MPA that the company was always working to support its brokers.
Recent enhancements to its broker portal were part of that commitment.
Additionally, updates have been made to its investor platform, La Trobe Direct, aimed at improving the experience of its 90,000-plus investors.
The enhancements were designed to provide a “simplified and more intuitive experience, with greater control, visibility and enhanced security,” Paton said.
“The new functionality allows our investors to view maturity dates, download transaction listings, review statement frequency and edit pending transactions,” he said. “All in all, the updates were made with the needs of our investor community in mind.”
In an update to investors in February, Paton said that La Trobe Financial asset portfolios had been built with discipline over time, with careful selection of granular asset exposures, diversified across sector, loan size, borrower type and security location.
Its $9.5bn credit fund consisted of 12,640 loans with an average loan amount of $695,000 and an average loan-to-value ratio of 64.8%.
Its portfolio accounts had continued to deliver their advertised distribution rates to investors.
Paton told MPA that over the last 12 months to March, the average return on the La Trobe Financial Australia Credit Fund – 12-Month Term Account was 4.90% (after fees), and that the variable rate had increased in response to the inflationary environment, which included rising interest rates.
The current variable rate applying to the 12-Month Term Account (as of 1 April 2023) was 5.75% (after fees, not guaranteed), Paton said.
In January 2023, La Trobe Financial reached a milestone of $9bn of assets under management in its credit fund, with total group assets under management of about $16.5bn.
In the last six months of 2022, distributions paid by La Trobe Financial to investors totalled $207m.
In May 2022, the business was sold to Brookfield Asset Management and in August, it celebrated its 70th anniversary.
The non-bank lender concluded its 15th RMBS deal in April. Originally a mandated $750m RMBS, following strong investor demand the deal was upsized to $1bn.
La Trobe Financial credited the success of the April credit raise to its track record of originating high-quality mortgage loans.
