Tough year for platforms


It has been a tough year for platform providers, with three out of six largest platforms reporting negative net flows for the year ending June 2011, according to data published by Plan for Life.
These results have been consistent with previous economic forecasts, as markets remained volatile throughout 2011.
AMP's Flexible Lifetime reported -$1.6 billion in net flows, followed by MLC's MasterKey (-$813.8 million) and Colonial First State's FirstChoice (-$234.6 million).
However, BT Wrap and SuperWrap had the biggest outflows in the year to June 2011 ($17.1 billion), but still ended the year at $4.6 billion, in positive territory.
Colonial's FirstChoice Wholesale and Macquarie's Wrap solutions also reported positive results.
BT Financial Group was one of the few institutionally owned wealth management arms posting an impressive performance in 2011, with MLC and NAB Wealth, ANZ Wealth and Colonial First State struggling over the past year.
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