AXA prepares for platform migration

AXA has announced that the company’s North platform, which is built on Wealth.Net and has been in development for the last two years, will eventually completely replace the company’s current platforms.

AXA will move clients over to the Wealth.Net system in a staged three-year process, and existing Generations, Summit and iAccess clients will be upgraded to the replacement system during that period.

The new Wealth.Net technology is cheaper and more efficient to run and to develop than existing systems, according to AXA’s general manager, platforms, Steve Burgess.

“By the end of this year North will be a highly competitive e-Wrap that will match competition,” he said at a media briefing.

He stressed that the old product structures will not be abandoned, and clients will be able to move across to the North e-wrap.

The clients will stay under their current product structures until impending changes to the adviser remuneration regime under the new Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) charter are introduced.

The old structures will be recognised as existing pre-1st July 2010 commission structures, and will be grandfathered across to the new platform.

AXA will not begin to migrate these clients until the end of 2011, with the process to be completed by the end of 2012, Burgess said.