AMP to double adviser client capacity with end-to-end North portal

Next year will see AMP roll out a new North adviser portal, proving an end-to-end solution and marking a shift in the firm’s position within the advice tech sector.

Speaking with Money Management, AMP general manager, adviser experience and digital, Peter Batsakis, said the North Interactive Wealth Portal will become the “digital spine” to help advisers improve efficiency and boost client capacity.

Set to launch early 2026, Batsakis said the whole-of-wealth solution is designed to facilitate the advice process at every stage from onboarding to implementation with additional capabilities set to drop later in the year.

“One of the main pieces is to be able to use data to then project out a client's income, a client's assets, check what access they have to government pension.  

“We're really trying to transition the client conversation from what typically comes out of a platform, which is a historical view of their performance, to a future-focused conversation about their goals, about how their strategy will play out over the coming years so that they can have a robust discussion about how the climate could potentially change some of the things they're doing. That's a key part of our initial phase.”

From there, advisers will be able to share documents with clients, gain their consent, and move straight to implementation, all on the same platform.

Where North has traditionally acted as a pure investment and product administration system, AMP group executive, platforms Edwina Maloney said this will shift the firm’s position in the advice ecosystem.

“We think by starting at the very start of their client interactions, all the way through their client journey, there are plenty of opportunities in those client journeys to drive more efficiency into advice and to advice practices and advice officers and to deliver better solutions,” Maloney told Money Management.

Batsakis added: “For us, it’s a complete shift, a transformation in our role in the advice world.”

With such a high demand for advice in Australia, Maloney said part of the motivation behind the new portal is a goal of doubling advisers’ client capacity through technology.

“We know there is an advice gap. We know that more Australians are retiring, and a lot of them don't have confidence as they go into retirement. We think that North plays a very important role in enabling advisers to have more capacity to see more clients.  

“We have an ambition to double the number of clients an adviser can see by using North and using the full extent of the tech.”

Batsakis said there is a limited amount of efficiency that can be gained by only focusing on the implementation phase of the advice process, leading to the development of this tool to reduce the time requirements at each stage.

“As an example, that recontribution process talked about, which can take weeks to complete with multiple consents. We’ve built a process around seamlessly doing that and through a wizard where you can finish it off in minutes.”

While many of the features are designed to boost efficiency, Batsakis said addressing this core challenge will provide added benefits for advice businesses and client alike.

“We see it as two-fold. One is really driving efficiency, which ultimately means hopefully they can see more clients, they can reduce the cost of advice. If they can reduce the cost of advice, that means a greater number of people who today don't have access to advice, will get access to advice, which obviously a great outcome for them.

“It’s a good thing for the practice. The practice ultimately needs to be sustainable and profitable. It helps their profitability. So, there's multiple lenses here for the clients and the advisers of the practice to grow their business, and we see ourselves investing heavily over the course of the next few years.”

In order to achieve this, he said AMP is implementing AI within the firm to speed up the development of this tool. At the same time, the portal will also have embedded AI capabilities, including an AI file note system within its review tool.

“I don't think any other platform has ventured to develop something specific for advisers from an AI perspective. But in the new year, we'll be using AI capability, which we've embedded into the platform provide advisers with a range of things, particularly around the implementation phase,” he said.

In addition to boosting efficiency, having an end-to-end solution will also reduce security risks that can arise from advisers having to transfer client data on their tech stack, something Maloney said advisers have flagged as a concern.

Batsakis added: “Forget about emails. That's not the way to go. Doing it through a secure bank-level cyber protected platform like ours is the right way to go. More and more licensees are demanding that themselves, and we want to help with that.”