CFS and AMP recognised for platform innovations

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

16 February 2024

Colonial First State (CFS) together with AMP North have emerged as amongst the most innovative platform providers in the inaugural SuitabilityHubt Platform Market Wrap, released today.

According to the SuitabilityHub analysis the following have gained approval for their innovation:

• North facilitating fractional shares in managed accounts: This innovation will enable advisers to recommend SMAs to more clients, particularly those with lower balances, democratising client access to SMAs and improving client outcomes from better tracking of the manager’s target model and reduced cash drag.
• CFS Edge dividing client accounts into sub-accounts: This simple yet high impact innovation delivers greater flexibility and ease in implementing advice strategies. For example, by making applying a bucket strategy for retirees easier. Not having to set up multiple accounts also helps reduce administrative burden, such as effort in generating reports.
• CFS FirstChoice’s new origination journey: Facilitated by Elemnta and its integration with Xplan, this delivers significant time savings when opening platform accounts. It includes pre-populating data from Xplan, setting up multiple accounts across a family group in one go, completing multiple forms without re-keying data, and two-step rollovers to save time in situations where the original super fund has insurance attached.

Commenting on the findings, SuitabilityHub founder, Recep Peker said investment platforms had ramped up their functionality and pricing innovation.

He nominated the key take outs from his research as being:

• Platforms are rapidly modernising their digital capabilities, akin to apps like Uber, allowing advisers to efficiently self-serve and track tasks in real-time, ultimately enhancing their service to clients and reducing call volumes to the platform.
• The focus on improving client outcomes is evident through innovative propositions such as zero administration fee products like CFS Edge Accelerate 100 and HUB24 Discover, aimed at addressing advice affordability and competing with industry funds.
• Noteworthy platform enhancements include North’s addition of fractional shares in managed accounts, CFS Edge’s division of client accounts into sub-accounts for greater flexibility, and CFS FirstChoice’s streamlined origination journey, all contributing to adviser efficiency gains and improved client outcomes.