Investing in people
With nearly $20 billion in assets under management for 100,000 investors, La Trobe Financial is one of Australia’s leading alternative asset managers. CEO Chris Andrews (below) shares his thoughts on the keys to future success – and why personal connections have never been more important. You joined the business nearly 18 years ago as legal counsel and now you’re CEO. What do you love about the company?
“The focus of La Trobe Financial’s investment offerings is to make money work harder for our customers as they approach and enter retirement. I’ve recently had the privilege of assisting my mother and father in their final years and that was a reminder of the importance of looking after those who’ve looked after us. It’s nice to know that we can make a difference for our investors.”
In 2022, you transitioned from CIO to CEO. What’s been the highlight of your tenure in the top job?
“It’s been an incredibly exciting time for the business and we’ve invested heavily in our people and our technology. We wanted to increase both the number and quality of staff and we’ve seen an immediate pay-off. We’re managing record volumes of investment by getting a little bit better every day across all areas of the business. It’s a form of compound interest – it all adds up very quickly.”
What’s important to you when hiring staff and how do you build a positive culture?
“We have a clear vision of who we are, who we serve and how we want to be. La Trobe Financial is not the place for beanbags and table tennis. We’re managing what could be the retirement savings for 100,000 investors so we’re very deliberately building a consistent, transparent approach to our business. Culture is my biggest focus and as we grow, it’s critical that we maintain a personal touch. We support more than 550 staff members nationally through initiatives such as focus sessions for leaders and sales teams, and CEO roundtables, where I talk with groups of 15 to 20 people over a sandwich about how we can improve their work life. It’s all about keeping our staff engaged as they’re the ones serving our customers.”
How does investing in innovative technology fit into the people-focused culture of La Trobe Financial?
“Across everything we do, the focus is on making the experience for customers, partners and staff the best possible. We’ve invested heavily in upgrading our digital processes and have just launched a new loan system that’s delivering a 20 per cent uplift in efficiency. It’s improving data quality, integrating seamlessly with external platforms and making the day-to-day life of our credit team better.”
How do you hope to shape the investment strategy at La Trobe Financial?
“We’re concentrating on two big issues – bringing high-quality assets into the business and making sure that we carefully manage the liquidity profile of our offerings. We’re also building new products for investors and continuing to innovate. We want to ensure they have access to the best of what the investment world has to offer.”
And with these new products is there still attention to safety and consistency for your customers?
“People come to us because they’re looking for consistent monthly income and a business that can really look after their investment capital. One of the challenges investors have as they approach retirement is that at that stage of their lives they simply can’t afford to ride the ups and downs of the share market and they certainly can’t afford to incur losses. Our flagship product, the 12 month term account, has been in operation since 2002 and no investor has ever lost a cent of capital at any time. There’s not many investment managers who can say that about their investment offerings.”
What type of legacy do you hope to create as CEO?
“When I came across to head up our asset management business in 2009, my initial threshold question was whether I’d be happy to recommend the product and the business to my father for his investments. To which my answer is still unequivocally yes. I’m focused on ensuring we continue to bring a strong performance profile and the highest quality investment offerings to market and that we do so with a human-centric approach that makes it a wonderful and friendly experience for our customers and partners. I want to also ensure that we have provided our staff with the opportunity to build meaningful careers, where high standards of ethics and integrity are the norm and the people who live and work by those standards flourish.”
Make your money work harder for you. Find out how at latrobefinancial.com.au Plus earn Qantas Points with eligible La Trobe Financial products.