Investec IMS launches TFSA offering wide choice of funds

Investec Investment Management Services (IMS) today announced the launch of its Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA), which offers investors access to a wide range of underlying unit trust funds from Investec Asset Management and other third party managers.

“There are several benefits to investing your TFSA allowance via an investment platform,” says Daryll Welsh, head of product at Investec IMS. “In addition to the fact that investment platforms offer an extensive choice of local and international funds covering all risk profiles, asset classes and sectors, investors also have the flexibility to switch between them. Furthermore, investors can easily see a consolidated view of their entire portfolio, which might include a retirement annuity and discretionary investments in addition to a TFSA.”

The fee structure is also very competitive, Welsh adds. Given that most investment platforms have negotiated discounted fees from the management companies, the cost of investing via a platform is comparable to investing directly with the unit trust company even after adding the platform administration fee. “While a flat administration fee of 40 basis points per annum is charged on the TFSA, investors also benefit from an aggregation of the entire value of their portfolio on the Investec IMS platform when the overall administration fee is calculated, where discounts over certain thresholds apply¹.”

There are approximately 60 funds available for investing via the Investec IMS TFSA, of which around half have been quality approved by an independent investment consultant after a thorough due diligence process.