Sealcorp tops the list of most favoured platforms

WITH more and more platforms flooding the market, it seems our Top 100 Dealer Groups just can’t make up their minds about which one they prefer.

There is some loyalty among the bank-owned dealer groups, withAXA, St George and National Australia Bank sticking solely to their Summit, Asgard and MasterKey platforms.

Most other groups, however, offered at least two or three choices with some extending to seven or eight options, often combining some of the flagship platforms with in-house or badged master trust products.

On choosing multiple platforms,Count Wealth Accountants’ managing director Barry Lambert says, “We simply want to give our advisers and our clients choice, in terms of fee options, wraps versus master trusts, and slightly different fund managers. They have to be efficient and offer good service standards, but different platforms will also suit different clients as well.”

Overall, the most popular platform choice was Sealcorp’sAsgard, which was used by four of the top 10 groups (including St George’s combinedSecuritor/Pactgroup), followed byNorwich Union’s Navigator.

BT WrapandMacquarie Wrapwere next most popular, with BT achieving significant penetration through the use of badged products by many smaller groups, such asFiducian Financial ServicesandPremium Accounting Group.

Relative newcomerColonial FirstChoice, launched in May 2002, has given the more establishedMLCMasterKey platform a run for its money, sharing a ranking in the most commonly nominated platform list.