Colonial FirstChoice resumes top ranking
Colonial First State has reassumed its position at the top of the Wealth Insights platform rankings.
The company's First Choice platform has been ranked first in the Wealth Insights Platform Service Level Reporting Rankings, after being ranked second in 2012.
However the bigger news from the Wealth Insights research is that AMP's North platform has ranked second — the first time it has broken into the upper echelon of the annual process — and a direct reflection of the distribution benefits which have been delivered following AXA Asia Pacific's merger with AMP.
Commenting on Colonial First Choice reassuming the mantle, Colonial First State general manager, product and investments, Peter Chun attributed the outcome to the level of investment which had been directed towards it.
"We've been on a platform development program for three years and it has paid off," he said.
This was confirmed by Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon, who said the First Choice platform had scored well on virtually all the metrics used to underpin the service level survey.
"Obviously the overall satisfaction rating was very high," she said.
Looking at AMP's North platform, McMahon said that it had clearly become the company's "go-ahead product" and had benefited from company's focus and scale.
"But clearly, too, the planners using the North platform like the experience," she said.
Commenting on the North platform's performance, AMP's director, platforms, Steve Burgess said that over the last 12 months the company had delivered a number of enhancements to the platform, including new funds on the menu, family fee aggregation and improvements to service features and processing.
He said the platform was primarily web-based, making it easier for both advisers and clients to transact and monitor investments online and offering the element of control that many clients were looking for.
"Our advisers appreciate the functionality that North offers their clients," Burgess said. "Each client has their own individual pin and can receive up-to-the-minute online notifications updated on the dividend and distribution dates of each fund on the investment menu.
"North offers a very flexible product set, including ETFs [exchange-traded funds] and direct equities," he said. "Many of the changes we've made have been in response to adviser feedback, so we know the enhancements we've made will benefit both the adviser and their clients."
Discussing the Colonial First State's approach to the development of the First Choice platform, Chun said the company had focused on the past findings of Wealth Insights and the areas it had identified in terms of value for money and ease of use.
"That has certainly paid off for us," he said.
The number one ranked platform in the Wealth Insights survey for 2011 and 2012 ranked somewhat lower this year, which McMahon said was attributable to a number of factors including a general lifting of the bar over the past 12 months.
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