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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.