Asgard tops award as online providers up the ante
Australian fund managers and platform providers are moving ahead in leaps and bounds with significant enhancements to their online service offerings in the last 12 months, according to ACNielsen Consult.
Despite these advances,AsgardAdviserNet has topped the ACNielsen Consult Advisers Online Benchmark as the best platform overall for the second year in a row, scoring highest in five of the six categories examined - functionality, useability, adviser/dealer group relationship, security/privacy and brand.Australian Skandiascored highest in the remaining category, content.
ACNielsen Consult senior financial services analyst Mark Johnston says, “Asgard’s continuing focus on the online channel has allowed them to maintain their lead despite the frenetic pace of development by their competitors in the platform market.”
BTWrap was second in the platform category, boosted by its online adviser transaction capabilities and an extensive suite of business reporting tools, followed byMLCMasterkey, coming in third place.
According to Johnston, competition amongst the platforms will remain fierce with particular importance placed on transaction functionality.
“We expect the pace of development will continue with further integration of online platforms with desktop planning software and a move towards processing transactions online,” he says.
The survey also ranked some of the leading fund manager adviser websites, withColonial First State’s FirstNet Adviser heading the list with an extensive range of research available online and a high level of adviser support.
BT was again runner up in this section with BT Adviser Exchange, with comprehensive online capabilities for investors, who received access to the same level of information as their advisers, and marketing tools for advisers and dealer groups getting the thumbs up.
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