Rampart Talks: Alex Vynokur

Joe Aston interviews Alex Vynokur for Rampart.

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My guest this month on Rampart Talks is Betashares co-founder and CEO Alex Vynokur.

Alex emigrated to Australia as a teenager from Soviet Ukraine in the 1990s, studied law and commerce and then landed at Turnbull Pillemer Capital (in far happier times between its principals Malcolm Turnbull and Russell Pillemer).

In 2009, he founded Betashares, one of the standout homegrown success stories in Australia's financial services sector. Today, Betashares commands a 20 per cent share of the local market for exchange-traded funds (behind only global behemoth Vanguard) and has expanded into key adjacencies like direct investing, superannuation and managed accounts for financial advisers. Its strategic shareholders include Boston private equity firm TA Associates and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek.

Alex and I spoke about his determination to remain a private company with long-duration investors; the effect of recent tax changes on corporate innovation and on young investors trying to accumulate a housing deposit; and the tri-partisan moves in Canberra to slash net overseas migration.

We also discussed how technology is making investing "more akin to the experience you have when you use Spotify or when you use Netflix."

"Only two million Australians are receiving personal financial advice and we have about 18 million Australian adults who are not. Technology will be there more and more over time to help bridge that gap. Technology may not be the substitute for an individual receiving financial advice from a human financial adviser, but it's a hell of a lot better than being completely on your own."

Alex almost overflows with gratitude for the opportunities afforded to him by Australia, "the best country in the world by far." As a Jew and a Bondi local, he also spoke with passion and sadness about the Bondi massacre and the Royal Commission on Antisemitism, and about his native homeland's fight against Russia's illegal invasion.

There is so much more in this episode, so I encourage you to access the full version, which runs for 53 minutes. The full version is only available to Rampart's premium subscribers, who can watch on rampart.news or listen via Spotify or Apple Podcasts (if you haven't already activated this integration with your preferred podcast app, you can do so here).

For Rampart's free list members, a 15-minute cut is available on rampart.news, YouTube and all the major podcast players.

I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers, Joe