Under the SIV scheme, foreigners are allowed to settle in Australia for up to four years – after which they may seek permanent residency – in exchange for investing a minimum of A$5m ($4.6m, £3.04m) during their stay. The money may be placed in government bonds, managed funds, invested in Australian businesses, or in a combination of these asset classes.
Recently published articles have indicated that most of the applications received by the Australian authorities so far under this scheme are understood to have come from China.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Præmium noted that its Separately Managed Account (SMA) platform met the requirements to be used by the SIV scheme.
“Managing cross-border relationships requires particular skill sets and considerations, especially around transparency,” said Michael Ohanessian, chief executive of the company.
“Praemium’s SMA platform is an ideal structure for the SIV scheme, as it provides applicants with beneficial ownership of Australian equities within a transparent managed investment scheme legal structure."
He added that Præmium was in the process of working with its "partners" to enable their clients to apply under the SIV scheme, "with a particular focus on Asia, where most of the demand [for this type of visa] originates".
Separately managed account business
As reported, Præmium last year announced it was to take over a BlackRock separately managed accounts business in Australia that it has been providing technology support for since 2005. The SMA scheme at that point had more than A$600m in funds under management across 100 model portfolios.
At the same time, it announced it would acquire a Hong Kong-based provider of customer relationship management (CRM) technology, WealthCraft Systems, for A$625,000 ($655,000, £403,000).
In launching a scheme aimed at granting residency rights to wealthy immigrants in exchange for investments in the country, Australia is late to a club that already includes such members as New Zealand, the US, and a number of European countries, some of which have sweetened their offer recently, in response to recent global downturn.
