AMP looks outward with new head of sales
AMPhas reaffirmed its strategy to expand its presence in the non-aligned adviser market with the appointment of formerPerpetual Investmentsexecutive, Andrew Keay, into the newly created role of national sales manager.
“It’s really to strengthen our focus on that market and ensure we’ve got the right talent,” saysAMP Henderson Global Investorshead of retail distribution Krystyna Weston.
“There’s been a lot of re-organisation across the AMP group and as of July 1, my team became responsible for all relationships with researchers, platforms, dealer groups and third party financial planners.”
Keay, who will in effect be Weston’s deputy and assist her in strategic decision-making, will have the group’s centralised business development management team reporting to him along with its fund-of-funds sales team.
“AMP had a central distribution hub effectively for all its products, and as of July 1, that all changed and the business units became responsible and accountable for their own distribution,” Weston says.
“We’re already active in the fund-of-funds area, but before July we didn’t have direct access to financial planners because that was all centralised through adviser services.”
However, Weston has moved to reassured the more than 1,500 internal planners across its four dealer groups —AMP Financial Planning,Hillross Financial Services,Arrive Wealth Managementand Magnify — that the sharpened external market focus will not impact on the group’s service to aligned planners.
“While we have a strong focus on both our internal and external clients, we have a number of dedicated resources to service our internal clients,” she says.
Keay, who was previously Perpetual Investments NSW state manager, commences in the role on September 18 and increases the size of Weston’s team to 18.
Earlier in the year, formerPortfolio Partnersexecutive Natalie Windsor was appointed as business development manager for Queensland, while ex-BT Funds Management’s Nick Buckland was appointed in a similar role for NSW.
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