AM Corporation will launch the highly anticipated Bureau service platform today in a bid to seize the initiative in the financial services market.
AM insists the Internet-based Bureau service is not a product but rather a service platform. It provides the consolidated reporting features of a wrap account while at the same time providing detailed research on managed funds and shares as well as a method of transacting shares and managed funds.
AM has struck up a number of alliances to put the services together. Macquarie supplies the cash management trust and the full service broking option. TD Waterhouse provides the discount broking service for shares and managed funds while InvestorWeb is the source of news and information on shares and managed funds.
But it is not simply the services on offer that set the new service apart from the 100 master trusts and wrap accounts in the Australian market, it is also the simplicity and transparency of its fees. The bureau service is the first to charge flat monthly fees without charging a proportion of funds under administration. Clients of AM’s LifeTrack service will pay $8.00 a month for the full suite of services and no charge for a portfolio summary and investment information service. Those who are not already LifeTrack clients will pay $100 per month for the full suite of services.
While AM may have the jump on its competitors for the new service, there are a number of other financial services groups snapping at AM’s heels. Assirt parent company Wealthpoint is understood to be developing a comprehensive service platform for advisers and direct clients while a number of other software providers are moving quickly on developing their own Application Service Provider (ASP) platforms.
But AM management has anticipated the increased attention from competitors, and are planning constant upgrades in the coming year. The group says the Bureau service is a “work in progress” where new services will be added each month. New services already scheduled include planning software from Visiplan, mortgage services and online calculators.
