Australian investors are moving beyond the “buy BHP and Rio” model, forcing wealth managers and platforms to rethink portfolio construction and access.
Australian investors are rapidly moving beyond the traditional “buy BHP and Rio” portfolio model, forcing wealth managers and trading platforms to rethink how investment portfolios are built, accessed and managed.
Financial technology and brokerage platform ViewTrade says this shift towards increasingly sophisticated multi-asset investing is accelerating as younger investors seek broader international exposure and seamless access to a wider range of products through a single platform.
“The history of Australia is it’s been very domestically focused and largely equity focused, but that doesn’t really cut it anymore. Investors need access to more products, new asset classes and global markets,” CEO of ViewTrade International Australia, Nigel Singh, said.
COO Carl Brazendale said portfolio construction has evolved significantly, moving well beyond simple domestic diversification into far more complex global and thematic exposures.
“Before, it used to be: I might have Australian stocks and I’ll diversify and get some US stocks. Now you’re seeing portfolios with Australian stocks, US stocks, UK names, climate migration stocks in Europe and employment themes in Europe – even the diversification is becoming more diverse.”
ViewTrade says that as product complexity increases, brokers are no longer just execution venues but increasingly technology businesses.
Chief growth officer, Laksh Gangwani, said the shift is being amplified by a $70 trillion generational wealth transfer, with younger, digital-native investors expecting access to all asset classes, products and markets on a single platform.
“Seventy trillion in assets is moving to the next generation. These people are crypto natives – they want access to all asset classes and all products on a single platform, with the complexity taken away and a simple, single-click user experience,” Gangwani told Investor Daily.
Singh added that tokenisation is emerging as part of this broader shift in how new generations approach investing.
“As people move from being 20 or 25 into 30 and have their first liquidity event, they’re going to look to access products in ways they feel confident. Tokenisation and digital assets enable that for a technology-native generation.”
Tokenisation and fractional ownership are gradually expanding the investable universe, particularly for illiquid or hard-to-access asset classes such as real estate and private markets.
While still early in adoption, ViewTrade says these developments point to a future where asset ownership and transferability become more fluid, further blurring the boundaries between traditional public and private markets.
However, Gangwani was sceptical about the value proposition of tokenised listed equities.
“Today with T+1 delay we do net settlement. If a trillion trades, only about 3 per cent of value actually moves. If you go to instant settlement, you’re taking away an efficiency the industry has built up – and tokenised stock dealing will likely be more expensive than what you do today,” he said.
“In listed stocks, the number of trades that fail because the counterparty goes bankrupt or doesn’t deliver is close to zero. So the question regulators keep asking us is: why are we tokenizing stocks – what problem are we solving?”
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence (AI) is also beginning to reshape the operating model, although executives stressed its immediate impact will be felt first in internal workflows rather than direct client-facing advice.
Gangwani says there is a clear distinction between hype and practical application.
“We’re grounded in AI reality. AI is going to transform the experiences of internal teams before it does it for external clients.”
Alongside this, the growth of structured products, global ETFs and increasingly bespoke portfolio solutions is reshaping how advisers and institutional investors construct allocations.
Rather than relying on broad domestic equity exposure, portfolios are increasingly being built around specific themes, regions and risk exposures, reflecting a more deliberate and granular approach to diversification and return generation.
Singh said that despite ongoing innovation, capital markets still rely on a degree of friction and inefficiency to function effectively, particularly in areas such as settlement timing, liquidity provision and risk management.
“Capital markets are built on inefficiency. The ability to make money is built on inefficiency. So I don’t think you’re going to see a wholesale shift to T+0 atomic settlement – it doesn’t work for everyone in the market,” he told Investor Daily.
Meanwhile, the rise of extended US trading hours is increasingly shaping global investment behaviour, with 24/5 access giving investors greater flexibility to respond to market events in real time. While volumes remain relatively small, executives said it is becoming more relevant for Asia-Pacific investors managing US exposure outside traditional market windows, reinforcing the shift towards always-on global markets.
“US 24/5 trading might look small versus the main US session, but if you compare it to markets like the ASX, it’s in the same ballpark. As more exchanges join, extended hours will become mainstream – effectively a fourth session rather than a niche window.
”The article was originally published in InvestorDaily by Olivia Grace-Curran
