AMP creates commission-free super products
AMP Financial Services has created two new superannuation products, both of which are commission-free.
According to AMP director, personal wealth, Andrew Hobern, one of the key gaps in AMP’s product strategy is in the Generation X and Y marketplace.
“This is a customer segment that AMP hasn’t focused on for a long time,” Hobern said.
AMP has therefore launched the Flexible Lifetime Super Easy (FLSE) product for existing and potential customers aged between 25 and 50 who have incomes of less than $100,000 per year and want a simple super product.
FLSE, to be launched May 25, will be AMP’s first fully online wealth management product.
However, Hobern said it would also be available through AMP financial planners or call centres.
The product has two investment options — Super Easy Balanced (default fund) and Super Easy Cash. The product will also offers a complementary consolidation process.
“Consolidating super into one account is difficult, customers keep telling us they fail to achieve that,” Hobern said.
The product will be commission-free, a decision Hobern said was made to suit younger clients with lower annual incomes who “are unlikely to pro-actively seek financial planning advice and have less complex superannuation needs”.
Meanwhile, another area AMP has not previously focused on is self-managed super funds (SMSF), according to the AMP director of product manufacturing, Paul Sainsbury.
AMP has not historically focused on this growing segment, but increasing planner and customer demand for solutions in the SMSF arena, together with the growth profile of the market, requires us to reconsider our role in SMSFs, Sainsbury said.
The AMP Ascend SMSF product has been created largely for the high-net-worth market, “a segment that we believe [has] untapped potential for AMP”, Sainsbury said.
The first wave of product features include financial planning, separately managed accounts, managed funds, cash management, term deposits and life insurance.
The product, which is also purely fee for service, was launched in early March on a pilot basis and will be progressively rolled out during the year.
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