Westpac prioritises exiting wealth business
Westpac has confirmed the potential sale of the Asgard and BT Panorama platform is still a consideration as funds under administration on BT Panorama declines 8%.
In its annual statement for the 12 months to 30 September, the firm said “work continues on a platform sale” which encompassed Asgard and BT Panorama.
Simplification was one of Westpac’s three priorities for the year ahead with the firm stating it wanted to get “back to banking and exiting our wealth and insurance businesses”.
Excluding notable items and the impact of business sold, net wealth management and insurance income decreased by $13 million. The firm said it had seen lower wealth income from continued migration of customers from legacy platforms to the lower-fee Panorama platform.
Funds under administration (FUA) at BT Panorama were $95.9 billion in the 12 months to 30 September, 2022.
This was down 8% from a year ago when FUA was $104.7 billion and down 9% from the end of March 2022.
BT said market volatility across equity and bond markets “had an adverse impact” on FUA.
The number of investors using the platform was up 7% from a year ago from 234,948 to 250,809 while total advisers on the platform was up 2% from 6,034 to 6,142.
However, there was a decline in the number of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) on the platform with the number falling from 25,320 to 23,528.
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AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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