A former Sydney investment manager has pleaded guilty to two counts of insider trading regarding a potential takeover of Platinum Asset Management, having acquired $2.6 million of Platinum shares.

Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners is to launch a retail version of its private market separately managed account next month after witnessing "huge" uptake for its wholesale offering.

Iress has successfully completed its business transformation to become a growth-focused business set to benefit from the expansion of advice to unadvised consumers in Australia.