Produced in partnership with North.
At the turn of the century, the financial institutions that dominated wealth management believed that winning the hearts and minds of financial advisers lay in having the right investment administration platform and front-end.
In 2000, Norwich Union kicked off a $25 million ($47 million in today’s terms) transformation program, Project Greenfield, to beef up its Navigator platform and add the capability to prepare financial strategies and plans.
In 2003, Iress acquired Xplan Technology, before buying then market leader Visiplan in 2007. Macquarie acquired Coin Software in 2005 and NAB ramped up investment in its MLC 360 offer, including technical support, investment research and financial planning tools that integrated with its MasterKey platform.
The thinking of the day, particularly among institutions that did not own distribution, was that an integrated platform that seamlessly connected the front and back office would lock in advice groups and funds under administration.
But that scenario didn’t play out as planned. When it came to financial planning tools, the platforms did not have an edge and advice groups also wanted the flexibility to use more than one platform. They didn’t want to be locked in.
According to Peter Batsakis, general manager, advice experience and digital at AMP, a “closed model” with financial planning capabilities built exclusively for a specific product or platform is inconsistent with professional services.
“Advice tools should seamlessly integrate with platforms, but advisers should also be able to access them separately on a standalone basis,” he tells Professional Planner.
Decades on from the platform wars of the 2000s, AMP’s vision is for North to unify the entire advice journey from the initial client meeting through to advice presentation, product implementation and ongoing reviews by providing an integrated seamless experience.
It will succeed where others have failed because it has the right motivation, resulting in an innovative platform that provides flexibility, choice and control, Batsakis says.
“Our goal is to solve advisers’ biggest problems and that’s two-fold,” he says.
“Advisers are grappling with how to deliver advice more cheaply and efficiently and, at the same time, enhance client engagement.
“Platforms have traditionally focused on advice implementation and making the implementation process really efficient, which sits at one end of the spectrum, but there’s a huge amount of work that goes into the creation of that advice.”
While platforms have delivered significant back-office efficiencies, particularly around tasks like opening and closing accounts, investing money and moving money around, they have been less effective at supporting advisers with advice creation, including discovery, financial modelling, producing Statements of Advice and presenting plans to clients.
North is on a mission to change that.
In March, the group launched the North Interactive Wealth Portal, featuring a whole of advice dashboard, modelling and practice branded digital client review tool. It is currently developing a client portal to facilitate self-service for basic tasks like checking account details, document sharing and digital consent.
At a practical level, the portal gives users a 360-degree view of their clients’ wealth, financial goals and projections. It is designed to promote holistic advice and foster deeper client engagement by broadening the focus of discussions beyond investment performance. Advisers can access all or part of North.
At a strategic level, the launch of the North Interactive Wealth Portal, marks the platform’s shift from a product administrator to an end-to-end digital advice experience.
That said, advisers can choose to use all or part of North.
The front line
When it comes to supporting advisers to drive efficiencies and productivity, the front-end is the next frontier, according to Batsakis.
North is investing heavily in advice systems and processes, including new technologies like AI, large language models and automation, to ensure it remains “relevant” to advice businesses and all stakeholders including advisers, paraplanners and support staff. Its goal is to make it quicker and cheaper for advice businesses to implement advice.
It is also collating, cleaning, structuring and interpreting large volumes of data to gleam insights to help advice businesses grow.
“The advice process has traditionally been clunky and fragmented, but our goal is to transform it into a seamless experience and, by doing so, provide advice businesses with increased operational efficiency so they can grow clients per adviser and focus on expanding their business,” Batsakis says.
“Platforms should not be confined to implementation. They should be a productivity tool that supports businesses with everything from onboarding to client reviews. That’s where things are heading.”
Caught up in the action
While AMP sold its financial planning arm in 2024, personal advice remains in its DNA. For 177 years, the group has partnered with advisers to help clients protect, manage and grow their wealth and achieve their goals.
But it wasn’t until 2011 that AMP entered the platform space via its acquisition of AXA and AXA’s North platform.
Prior to that, AMP offered a badged version of the Asgard and Macquarie Wrap platforms.
In 2019, AMP made a strategic decision to bring platform development inhouse and ramp up investment in North.
Interestingly, being late to the game has worked in the group’s favour. Unimpeded by legacy and with fewer business segments vying for capital, the group has emerged with a distinct platform strategy and offering. In addition to the Interactive Wealth Portal, North has one of the broadest investment menus, including managed funds and innovative retirement income stream (IRIS) solutions.
For the new look, slimmed down AMP, which has shed life insurance, asset management and financial planning over the past five years, the group’s key business units are superannuation and investments, AMP bank and North.
In advice, the North brand is fast becoming the face of AMP.
Batsakis says, in professional services, not having an aligned network is an advantage because it forces platforms and product providers to work even harder to win and maintain adviser support.
He is proud that formerly aligned practices – the majority of who are now part of Entireti’s Akumin group – continue to support North.
“There’s no debate internally about whether or not to continue investing in the platform because it’s just part of business,” Batsakis says.
“It’s not a case of let’s spend a lot of money for the first few years, building some capability and then flatten off. There needs to be consistent, ongoing investment and development, and everyone here thinks that way.”
