SIV and Investor Visa Update | Jun 22

SIV & Investor Visa Update: June 2022

There is always something happening in the investor visa (IV & SIV) world.

In this month’s newsletter we will cover:

• The launch of a great new Emerging Companies NSW SIV and IV compliant fund
• Our new Sydney Head Office
• How budget cuts are affecting visa processing times
• How diversification can help protect your clients against the effects of market volatility

Important Announcement
NSW post 1 July 2021 Nomination criteria

We are incredibly pleased to announce the launch of a new Emerging Companies NSW Class Fund. This fund is managed by one of Australia’s best fund managers and meets the NSW requirements for the Emerging Companies component (30%) for both SIV and IV applicants nominated by NSW after 1 July 2021. This new fund is available exclusively to Ord Minnett SIV and IV clients.

This multi award winning fund manager, established in 2001 and has over $2B in funds under management. They specialise high conviction actively managed investment strategies and Managed Discretionary Portfolios and have many SIV clients invested in their funds.

The new Emerging Companies NSW Class Fund has been purpose built to comply with the New South Wales Governments strict SIV and IV criteria. The Investment objective of the fund is to provide medium to long-term capital growth potential and seeks to outperform the fund’s benchmark over rolling five-year periods. The fund is both SIV compliant complies with NSW’s requirement that a minimum of 50% of the fund is invested in NSW domiciled companies listed on the ASX. As with all of the ASIC registered funds we recommend this fund provides the required annual SIV compliance audit.

The introduction of this new fund gives the Ord Minnett Investor Visa Service the most compelling IV and SIV investment solution for visa applicants wanting a New South Wales nomination.

With Austrade recently deciding to suspend nominations the launch of this new fund is very timely and is great news for visa applicants looking for safe and compliant IV and SIV investment solution.

Remember that choosing which state or territory to obtain an SIV or an IV nomination from is an important investment decision and not just a just a lifestyle choice.

It is important that your clients seek professional advice from an ASIC Registered Financial Adviser before applying for an NSW nomination. We would be more than happy to assist . Please contact us at [email protected] and help your clients make an informed decision.

Visa chaos after $875m budget cut

The $875 million budget cut at the Department of Home Affairs is set to further blow out already stretched visa waiting times. Whilst this is adversely affecting the median short-term temporary skilled visa cohort, the anecdotal evidence is that applications for the 188B Investor Visa are also taking months, if not more than a year or more to process.

Fortunately, the 188C Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program has maintained its priority under Ministerial directions and we are seeing invitations to invest, in three to six four months from application.

The Ord Minnett SIV Investment Review Service

Recent market corrections and the ongoing period of market volatility has reminded me of one of the Oracle of Omaha’s more famous nuggets of wisdom.

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.”
by Warren Buffett

What Mr Buffet meant by this comment is that everyone looks like a genius during a bull market and you do not really know or appreciate the risks that companies are taking until they are tested by adverse conditions.

 Over recent months we have been approached by the clients of other SIV investment providers. Most are concerned with the performance and liquidity of their SIV investments. Too often they poor performance has been exacerbated by the investor making the mistake of having all of their eggs in the one basket.

It is never a good idea to have all of one’s investments with one manager or in one asset category.

Financial Advice experts agree that maintaining a well-diversified portfolio will serve an investor well over multiple market cycles. Diversification is a technique that mitigates risk, by investing in different non-correlated assets. This way your portfolio's performance will not suffer heavily if a single security, sector, industry group, or asset falls out of favour.

We take this logic a step further and recommend people do the same with Fund Managers. It makes sense to use the best specialist Private Equity Manager and the best Small Companies Manager, or Property Manager, or Equity Manager or Fixed Interest Manager. The reality is that no fund manager is going to be competent let alone proficient in each asset category.

Our bespoke IV and SIV compliant portfolios are diversified across different asset classes and the best in each category asset managers. A portfolio proposal may include over ten different managed funds from ten different asset management firms, all accessed via our investment platform.

The major differences between Ord Minnett Visa Investment Service and other visa investment providers:

• We are registered financial advisers and independent from any product manufacturer or fund manager;
• Recommended funds have long proven, track records with most investors being sophisticated/professional and institutional (smart money);
• We recommend using ASIC registered managed funds; Some, of the so-called SIV funds are not ASIC registered managed investment schemes;
• Unregistered managed funds do not offer the same consumer protection as ASIC registered funds;
• Superior performance, and cost efficiency when compared to unregistered funds with high fees and short performance histories;
• Liquidity (the ability to withdraw or switch the investments);
• We do not charge exit or switching fees so there is No lock-in with Ord Minnett.

Ideally, your clients should have been ultra-cautious when considering their IV and SIV investments. However, it is never too late to seek a professional review of their SIV investments from an ASIC Registered Financial Adviser. We would be more than happy to assist.

Remember, it is important that they get their Permanent Residency Visa (888) but it is just as important to have a great investment experience by maximizing returns whilst minimizing risk.

Our New Sydney Office

We are delighted to announce that we have moved into our new Sydney Head Office. Our new office is located at Level 18 and Level 19, Grosvenor Place 225 George Street, Sydney. As COVID restrictions ease in Australian we look forward to meeting you all in person at our Sydney office, or at one of our fourteen offices around Australia and Hong Kong.

With Australia’s borders reopening to international visitors, we are starting to meet new and existing clients at our fourteen Australian offices. It still may be some time before we begin to visit our Hong Kong office.

For those not ready to visit Australia, we continue to enjoy remarkable success by having an email introduction made as early as possible. Best practice continues to be, an early email introduction, followed by, initial consultations, and follow up meetings conducted efficiently via Zoom or WhatsApp conferencing.