ICICIdirect to offer curated portfolios of international stocks

By Leandra Monteiro

ICICI Securities (I-Sec), which operates ICICIdirect, a virtual financial supermarket offering investment, protection, and loan products, today said that it has tied up with Interactive Advisors to offer curated portfolios of international stocks built on models constructed by leading global fund managers, for the domestic retail investors.

ICICIdirect customers would now be able to invest in portfolios made up of US stocks and ETFs managed by Interactive Advisors, a US investment advisor, based on models constructed by renowned global fund managers like Global X- by Mirae Asset, State Street Global Advisors, Legg Mason (acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments), Wisdom Tree and other portfolio managers. Between them, over 70 theme-based portfolios are already available for investors to choose from at ICICIdirect.com. These actively managed portfolios offer a host of differentiated basket of US stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF).

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Anupam Guha, Head – Private Wealth Management, ICICI Securities, said, “After the successful launch of our Global Investments offering which allowed our investors to invest in markets like the US, UK, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and Hong Kong in a completely digital manner, many customers have been asking us for a facility where they could have experts guiding them for better investment decisions. We have gone one step further by getting access to a curated list of theme-based portfolios, some based on models constructed by renowned fund managers, for our customers. These are actively managed portfolios and hence will come with features like rebalancing. We are confident that this facility will find resonance with even those investors with low risk appetite and those who were keen to diversify their investments in global markets but were holding back for lack of handholding.”

Investors can choose portfolios based on their risk tolerance. These portfolios are managed by a US investment manager based on extensive research and financial analysis and are across themes like smart beta, technology, healthcare, etc.

ICICIdirect launched Global Investment facility for its retail clients in association with US-based Interactive Brokers in August 2020. Interactive Advisors, a subsidiary of the Interactive Brokers Group, is an Investment Advisor registered with and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.