Australian Financial Services streamlining APL
Australian Financial Services (AFS) is reviewing its approved product list (APL) with a view to dumping unproductive or unsupported products and platforms.
Lonsec, which is in charge of the review, will report back late this month or early next month.
The review is being conducted together with the dealer group's financial planners. The group executive is trying not to be too proscriptive on the type of products the dealer group retains, AFS managing director Peter Daly said.
AFS currently has a wide APL.
"The future needs to be a more limited product selection, and we want our planners to work with us at determining what that looks like," Daly said.
Products that are no longer supported by the AFS's advisers will be the first to go, he said.
AFS's new head of strategic development Meaghan Unsworth is working with a strategic development committee made up of AFS's best 15 practices to nut out a best of breed approach and choose product and platform solutions based on those criteria, according to Daly.
AFS is also planning to upgrade its 12 months old self-managed super fund solution. The group had been "navel-gazing" over the past 12 to 18 months because of uncertainty about the group being acquired and it was time to fix up the existing solution, Daly said.
Daly didn't rule out completely dismantling the solution and building something completely different.
Recommended for you
With the final tally for FY25 now confirmed, how many advisers left during the financial year and how does it compare to the previous year?
HUB24 has appointed Matt Willis from Vanguard as an executive general manager of platform growth to strengthen the platform’s relationships with industry stakeholders.
Investment manager Drummond Capital Partners has announced a raft of adviser-focused updates, including a practice growth division, relaunched manager research capabilities, and a passive model portfolio suite.
When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
