AXA set to close Altus dealer group
AXAis to close itsAltusdealer group as part of a rationalisation of financial planning brands.
The group will officially close on December 31, by which time AXA expects most of the 40 practices to have moved to eitherCharterorAXA Financial Planning. It is not expected that any will move toIpac.
AXA national manager dealer groups Andrew Waddell says a review of dealer group operations earlier this year found there was no need for two non-institutional brands.
“We did our research and found brand criteria is very important for advisers. Some advisers like working for an institutional brand while others want a non-institutional brand,” Waddell says.
Altus was started three years ago as a specialist dealer group with a strong focus on risk.
According to Waddell, Altus had about two per cent of AXA’s $10 billion of funds under administration and provided about three per cent of revenue from the dealer group operation.
“We have been up-front with the Altus advisers and they can either join one of the AXA dealer groups or find an external dealer,” he says.
“As a result, AXA plans to increase investment in our network and raise the overall level of service for those other dealer groups.”
Waddell says future investment will be on raising the level of service support to Charter and AXA Financial Planning.
“This will reflect AXA’s view that there needs to be a concerted effort by industry leaders to improve the level of service they provide to dealer groups,” he says.
Waddell says AXA will start to roll out the Ipac model to Charter planners next month.
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