AXA Wealth sales to 31 March 2012 totalled £845m. This follows strong results from Architas, its specialist investment company, which saw total assets up 37% to £10.7bn, and Elevate, with total sales up 14% to £426m, bringing total platform assets to £4bn. Platform business now represents 50% of all individual sales, up from 39% in Q1 2011.
Overall, assets under management (‘AUM’) grew from £18.6bn to £20.1bn, compared to Q1 2011.
Commenting on the results, Mike Kellard, CEO, AXA Wealth, said: “The markets may well be ‘schizophrenic’ in the words of the IMF, but AXA Wealth is still experiencing strong appetite from investors who, I believe, can see the long term value in the stock market, and in the investment propositions that we offer.”
AXA Wealth believes it will continue to benefit from market trends, as advisers look to consolidate client assets on platform, to help manage efficiencies and provide better customer service by being able to manage assets holistically.
AXA Wealth also believes that it can continue to pull away from the traditional life company pack, with new services such as AXA Self Investor, its Elevate-built, IFA client investment portal; a renaming of Architas funds, to make it easier for customers to understand what they are buying; and a proposition built with RDR in mind, whether firms remain independent or move to restricted.
The company continues to build its new model business, and is set to make some strategic appointments over the next quarter, with an eye on attracting new platform and investment experience into the business. This is part of its strategy to transform capabilities within the business, with a particular focus on relationship management.
“I am very excited about our prospects over the course of the next two years. All the pieces are falling into place to make AXA Wealth the wealth manager of choice for new model advisers who are able to make the RDR transition and can see the opportunities of working with a platform and investment specialist like AXA Wealth,” says Kellard.
New business sales for Corporate Investment Services rose to £54 million, and in AXA Wealth International, sales of offshore bonds were £176m.
Kellard adds: “AXA Wealth has benefited from the drive in the corporate market for more bespoke pensions investment solutions – both in Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution pension schemes – to ensure that members achieve the right outcome when they retire. AXA Wealth International saw new business volumes increase by 6%, on the last quarter of 2011. Further enhancements to AXA Wealth’s international offshore distribution structure are anticipated to further increase this sales momentum.
“AXA Wealth is committed to supporting advisers into the new RDR world. This is not only to ensure that AXA Wealth is a company its employees can be proud of, but a company that advisers will want to recommend to their clients as we are easy to work with and we deliver on our promises. That is my ambition. That is what I am building. No company is perfect, but we will be doing all we can to deliver it.”
