Single platform strategies but no exits | Australian Markets

Twenty-five years in the past a main report from Cerulli Associates predicted the quantity of platforms in Australia could be lowered to round 5. That prediction proved effectively huge of the mark and there may be little expectation that any important gamers intend leaving the market.

The cause is easy and was outlined at Financial Newswire’s Advice, Wealth and Super: Rewired 2025 convention the place Wealth Data principal, Colin Williams recognized platforms as probably the most profitable phase of the financial providers industry and the platform heavyweights themselves pointed to growth, not consolidation.

Colonial First State Wrap Transformation govt director, John Keating mentioned that whereas consolidation is going on within the platform sector, most of the motion is with respect to the businesses which own a number of platforms.

His feedback got here forward of Westpac, a day later, confirming to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that will probably be shifting emigrate shoppers on the Asgard platform to the BT Panorama, after having earlier efficiently migrated shoppers from BT Wrap to Panorama.

Keating pointed to the complexities concerned in consolidating platforms internally, and prompt it was even more complicated when it concerned the acquisition of exterior platforms.

AMP Limited’s Group Executive for Platforms, Edwina Maloney mentioned there have been a vary of causes that the Cerulli prediction had not performed out, but not least was the truth that the all of the platform companies had been very completely different and had finished a good job of differentiating themselves within the market.

Maloney referenced current Investment Trends analysis suggesting financial advisers had been, on average, utilising 2.2 platforms, and mentioned that anecdotally utilizing two or three platforms felt “about right”.

“Eight or 19 is definitely not right,” she mentioned.

Noting that quite a few platforms have emerged from amidst financial planning licensees, Maloney mentioned that scale would in the end show important in circumstances the place price was a key determinant and the associated fee to serve needed to be low.

HUB 24 Executive, Group Strategy, Greg Hansen backed Maloney’s evaluation, noting that migrating shoppers on platforms was a tough train.

He mentioned that what was evident was that consolidation is a issue with respect to financial advice licensees.