Est. 2015 · Sydney · Wholesale and professional investors only

Cross-asset research, and managed accounts run to your mandate.

Macro, Australian and global equities, managed funds, ETFs, hybrids and listed property, covered in-house and published to a schedule you can plan around. The same research drives the discretionary portfolios on the platforms you already use.

AFSL 486279 · ABN 97 611 390 615 · Level 2, 44 Bridge Street, Sydney

What we do

Cross-asset research and discretionary portfolios.

What research clients get is what the portfolios are built on, so the note you read and the position we hold say the same thing.

Investment Research

Independent cross-asset research, on a set cadence

Written for people who have investment decisions to make. Each piece opens with the question, shows the evidence, states the bottom line and sets out what would change it. No manager pays for coverage, there are no paid ratings, and there is no trading desk.

  • Morning Report before the open
  • Intraday updates when markets or the facts move
  • Weekly valuations across ASX-listed hybrids, A-REITs and listed investment companies
  • Australian and global equity research and focus lists
  • ETF and managed fund research
  • Monthly Market Wrap, client newsletter and Investment Series webinar
  • Quarterly macro review and asset allocation
  • Meeting, trip and thematic research as the work warrants it
  • $300 + GST per adviser per month. One tier, the whole suite.
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Managed Accounts

Discretionary portfolios, run to your mandate

We manage asset allocation, security selection and rebalancing across Australian equities, global equities and multi-asset. The mandate sets the boundaries before capital is put to work. Authority and custody stay with you throughout.

  • Eighteen strategies across Australian equities, global equities and multi-asset
  • SMA models across a book or an IMA written for one portfolio
  • Active and ETF-only approaches where the mandate calls for them
  • Investment universe, risk limits and liquidity requirements agreed before implementation
  • Position sizing shaped by downside, liquidity and concentration
  • Monthly attribution and quarterly portfolio review
  • Implemented on HUB24, Netwealth, Macquarie Wrap, MLC, Praemium, Dash, Powerwrap and other suitable platforms
  • 0.25% of FUM p.a. No performance fee.
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Investment philosophy

Six principles.

They govern how we size risk, construct portfolios and decide what deserves capital.

Compounding first

A 40% loss needs a 67% gain to get back to even. Protecting the capital base matters because every future return compounds from what survives the drawdown.

Rules out Sizing a position for the upside case alone.

Non-binary portfolios

A view can be right and still deserve a small position. Size reflects what we can establish, the downside if we are wrong and the liquidity available if we need to change it.

Rules out Letting conviction substitute for sizing discipline.

Barbell construction

The core is built to compound over years. Smaller satellite positions are reserved for opportunities with enough return potential or diversification value to matter at portfolio level.

Rules out Filling the portfolio with exposures that add activity without materially changing the outcome.

Unconstrained

Within the mandate, a view can be expressed through equities, listed credit, managed funds, ETFs or hybrids. The instrument follows the work.

Rules out Owning an exposure simply because the category expects it.

Benchmark-unaware

Index weights are information. Position sizes come from the investment case, the mandate and the risk budget, even when that creates meaningful tracking error.

Rules out Holding a name solely because it is large in the index.

Downside awareness

Corrections recur and their timing is uncertain. Liquidity, concentration and days-to-exit are considered before the position size is set.

Rules out Building a portfolio that depends on benign markets to remain investable.
Track record

A decade of live money.

Returns since each strategy started, through the COVID shock, the 2022 rate cycle and the recovery. Live money throughout, and each of the four beat its market proxy on less volatility than the proxy carried.

10.3% p.a.
Australian Core
Since July 2015
Volatility
Strategy14.2%
Market proxy15.2%

+1.4% excess return over the proxy since inception.

16.6% p.a.
Global Core
Since January 2019
Volatility
Strategy15.4%
Market proxy16.1%

+1.2% excess return over the proxy since inception.

9.7% p.a.
Australian Small Companies
Since April 2017
Volatility
Strategy13.7%
Market proxy16.6%

+1.2% excess return, with three points less volatility in the part of the market where volatility is highest.

9.1% p.a.
Australian Dividend
Since March 2017
Volatility
Strategy12.6%
Market proxy15.2%

+1.5% excess return over the proxy since inception.

Important disclosures The four equity strategies shown are four of eighteen strategies we run across four families. Returns across the full set range from 4.2% to 16.6% per annum since their respective inceptions, and the complete table is available on request. Returns and volatility sourced from PORT Bloomberg, total return, as at 31 October 2025, since strategy inception. Volatility is standard deviation since inception. Market proxy is the most relevant ASX-listed ETF, shown for illustrative comparison. Excess return is the difference between the strategy return and the proxy return and is not risk-adjusted alpha. Inception dates differ by strategy, so returns are not directly comparable with each other. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. This information is general in nature and is provided to wholesale and professional investors only.

The team

Three investment managers, together since 2015.

Chhai Ung, Zach Riaz and Gaurav Singla founded Banyantree and remain responsible for the research, portfolio decisions and client discussions. There is no separate layer between the investment team and the people you deal with..

17+ years

Each, in financial markets, with more than forty years between them. Previous firms include Morgan Stanley, Aberdeen Asset Management, RBC Capital Markets and Insignia Financial. The directors were managing money through the financial crisis and through 2020.

Chhai Ung
Investment Manager and Director

Portfolio management, global equities and mandate governance. Previously fund manager on the Australian small-cap portfolio and head of the Australian trading desk at Aberdeen Asset Management. Earlier, REITs investment banking at Morgan Stanley. Admitted solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Zach Riaz
Investment Manager and Director

Investment research, equity coverage and hybrid securities. Previously lead analyst for Australian equities and ASX-listed hybrids at Insignia Financial. Earlier, equity research at RBC Capital Markets. MBA in Finance from MGSM and a Masters of Commerce with Honours from UNSW.

Gaurav Singla
Investment Manager

Equity research, financial modelling and manager due diligence. Previously a financial accountant inside an operating company, preparing statements and presenting quarterly to senior management. Earlier, financial modelling and derivative hedging at a stockbroking firm. CFA Charterholder.

Getting started

Tell us what you're looking for.

Cross-asset research, discretionary portfolio management, or both. Tell us enough about what you're trying to do to make the first conversation useful. We'll tell you whether Banyantree is a good fit.