Overall, funds under management rose 14% to over £30.4bn. The group multi-manager specialist Architas saw a strong rise in assets, up 46% to £19.4bn.
AXA Wealth’s specialist SIPP and investment platform grew funds under management by 16% to £19.9bn. AXA Wealth retail pension single premiums were up 12% from £902m to £1,011m. Corporate investment business secured new mandates totalling £2.6bn, this represented growth of 80% from its starting point of £3.8bn.
The Elevate wrap platform saw funds under management rise 13 per cent to £10bn. A recent survey from the Lang Cat said that the big gap for the Elevate platform remains its DFM/model functionality. It added: “(It is) one of the few platforms to have stepped charging rather than tiered. We like this. It’s competitive across the piece too and a clear structure with no fund switching.
Mike Kellard, chief executive officer, AXA Wealth, said: “Over the past five years we have grown assets for our pensions and investment business from around £15bn in 2010 to over £30bn, along with nearly £20bn in our multi-manager business… With more government change ahead for the next year, we’ll be working with advisers to enhance our proposition in the areas that matter most to them – from adding model portfolio functionality, to improving our retirement offering and delivering consistently excellent customer service.”
Kellerd says that the group has launched a set of online tools supporting advisers and clients with retirement planning – its LifePlanning Toolkit. The Lang Cat report said that the group’s retirement lifetime planner, a risk profiler (eValue powered) and a retirement income optimiser made it ‘fairly strong on retirement planning’. It has also launched a new Customer Services Academy.
