AXA streamlines distribution management
AXAhas reshuffled its dealer group management team resulting in all external planners coming under one manager and the position of another being scrapped.
TheCharter Financial PlanningandAltus Financial Servicesteams will now be managed by Charter national manager Bruce Birchall, who will also take responsibility for AXA’s back-office package for external planners, Jigsaw.
The move has seen the separate position of Altus national manager disappear. This was previously held by Steven Browning, who had the job since the inception of the group in 2000.
The company has also moved the head of its internal financial planning group, with Robert Switkowski, national manager ofAXA Financial Planners, heading up a new distribution project.
“For the past 18 months, Robert has held dual responsibilities for key internal development and AXA Financial Planning,” AXA dealer groups’ national manager Andrew Waddell says.
“We’ve separated these responsibilities to better support both the initiative and AXA Financial Planning’s operations.”
Waddell would not comment on Switkowski’s new project saying he did not want to let the company’s competitors know what AXA was planning.
He says AXA is currently advertising the national manager job internally and has given a brief to some head-hunters.
Waddell says the series of changes were part of the company’s move to improve its operational efficiency.
Waddell would not comment on the future of the Altus brand, although there has been some speculation it will disappear in the future.
AXA now has about 450 external advisers in the Altus and Charter dealer groups and 650 planners in its third dealer group, AXA Financial Planning.
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