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Twice the love for Colonial First State

Page 1, Money Management, 22 May 2008
Mike Taylor

Colonial First State (CFS) has taken out a double, judged the best fund manager as well as the best platform in this year’s Wealth Insights Service Level Survey.

And according to the managing director of Wealth Insights, Vanessa McMahon, administrative efficiency backed by technology has proven to be the key differentiator for CFS with respect to both the fund manager and platform categories.

The Wealth Insights survey sought the views of 886 advisers, who rated CFS as providing the best service levels from a funds management point of view, followed by Perpetual and then Macquarie Adviser Services.

McMahon said administrative efficiency had become a key factor in the minds of the advisers surveyed, particularly the speed with which redemption processing and delivery to investors was concerned.

She said its importance in the minds of advisers had increased significantly over the past 12 months, being rated as a top five issue by just 13 per cent of respondents a year ago compared to 45 per cent this year.

McMahon said the ability to quickly resolve disputes had also emerged as a key determinate, rated as a top five issue by 34 per cent of respondents this year.

Commenting on the findings, Colonial First State chief executive Brian Bissaker said it was hardly surprising that the company had been judged the leader in both categories because it worked to ensure consistency of approach across the two areas.

“The same people look after both elements of the business and that ensures a pretty consistent approach,” he said.

Bissaker said one of the keys to the success achieved by CFS was that it worked hard to maintain strong relationships with research houses, dealer groups and advisers.

What is more, he said it represented an exercise in continuous improvement, with the company closely monitoring the feedback it received from surveys such as those conducted by Wealth Insights and then working to achieve improvements where they were deemed necessary.

 

Colonial the FirstChoice in the tech stakes

Page 1, Money Management, 15 May 2008
Mike Taylor

In an analysis that has seen technological efficiency and user-friendliness rated as key differentiators, Colonial First States' FirstChoice platform has emerged as a clear winner in this year’s Wealth Insights Platform Service Level Survey.

The survey of 886 advisers, released this week, revealed Colonial FirstChoice was rated as having the best service levels in the industry, followed by the Macquarie Wrap and Navigator platforms.

Commenting on the survey results, Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon said the 2008 survey results revealed a key shift in the platform space, with technology and consumerism having become the key drivers for change.

“In recent years we saw commissions, products and menus as being the drivers, but they have become commoditised and been supplanted by the manner in which the embedded platform technology can actually help time-pressed planners,” she said.

McMahon said the importance of technology in assisting planners to do their jobs had become increasingly important in circumstances where the relationship between planners and platforms was no longer just about transactions, but about servicing an ongoing relationship with clients.

The chief executive of Colonial First State, Brian Bissaker, said he agreed with McMahon’s analysis and the manner in which technology had become a key differentiator.

“And that is heartening in circumstances where we have invested a lot of money in ensuring that FirstChoice delivers really good functionality,” he said.

“I think the importance of technology and how it helps planners is also reflected in the increasing numbers who have sought training and a better understanding of how it helps them to drive efficiencies,” Bissaker said.

He said that while the platform had considerable capabilities, it was important that it was efficient and easy to use from a basic administration point of view, especially during periods such as June/July 2007, where there had been particularly high volumes.

“The ‘Better Super’ changes not only drove a whole lot of new strategies but increased the number of underlying transactions per strategy,” Bissaker said. “That makes it imperative that the underlying technology works and gets it right.”

McMahon said FirstChoice had been rated the leading platform across a range of measures but, significantly, had emerged as number one with respect to technology.

She said based on technology alone, FirstChoice had taken first place, followed by the Asgard platforms and then Macquarie.
 

 

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