AXA reassures advisers North products will stay



|
AXA has assured its advisers that any potential sale of its Wealth.net platform in the event of a National Australia Bank (NAB) takeover will not include the North products and guarantees attached to it.
In an internal email obtained by Money Management, Adrian Emery, AXA’s general manager sales and marketing, also stressed that neither a NAB acquisition of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings nor a subsequent sale of the Wealth.net platform was assured.
“The Wealth.net platform and the North product are quite distinct and can be separated if required,” Emery said.
“While it is not possible to be sure how NAB and the ACCC’s [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s] discussions may progress, we believe it is clear that it is the platform itself and not the products that are the focus of the ACCC’s concern.”
Any transaction relating to Wealth.net would be subject to the NAB offer proceeding and there are still a number of significant steps before any offer is finalised, Emery said.
Recommended for you
Digital advice tools are on the rise, but licensees will need to ensure they still meet adviser obligations or potentially risk a class action if clients lose money from a rogue algorithm.
Shaw and Partners has merged with Sydney wealth manager Kennedy Partners Wealth, while Ord Minnett has hired a private wealth adviser from Morgan Stanley.
Australian investors are more confident than their APAC peers in reaching their financial goals and are targeting annual gains of more than 10 per cent, according to Fidelity International.
Zenith Investment Partners has lost its head of portfolio solutions Steven Tang after 17 years with the firm, the latest in a series of senior exits from the research house.