$14b AXA funds move to new system

AXA Asia Pacific Holdings has decided to transition to a new platform for most of its wealth management products following the platform's successful implementation within the company's new North product.

Warren Lee
(Credit: AXA)

In 2007, AXA went live with an investment product called North on Wealth.net, a product by a company called Bluedoor Technologies (now part of DST Systems) which specialises in wealth management systems.

AXA's Australian chief executive Warren Lee said the platform had performed successfully. "The leading technology underlying this platform has enabled us to create an automated, web-based environment that allows a fully integrated service model, including straight-through processing, that is low cost," he said. It was adaptable, allowing lower cost development and flexible product delivery, according to Lee.

"Given these strengths, we have decided to make this our primary technology platform going forward. This involves extending the North product range to post-retirement and also extending to a full e-wrap service, including a low cost option within the next 24 months," he said.

Between 2010 and 2012, AXA wanted to move $14 billion worth of products currently on the Summit line's technology to North's platform, upgrading those clients to better web access, fully electronic transactions and easier transition to the North product if desired. The products the company had on external platforms will remain there, but will be kept under review, he said.

He expected that running on Wealth.net instead of the company's current primary platform would save around 40 per cent in operating costs in 2013 once the products were migrated. The current platform has five different technical components, which meant that customising software for specific products became a chore, according to Lee. "This is clearly an expensive and complicated model from both the development and maintenance perspectives," he said.

AXA had been preparing for the transition by upgrading the capacity of the platform for the increase in client numbers. Currently, the platform handles $1.1 billion worth of funds. It has also been rationalising legacy products and simplifying product features.

The time was right for the transition, according to Lee. "Online transaction capability is fast becoming a 'hygiene' factor for advisors and we believe this is crucial for manufacturers and distributors to be efficient and to be able to compete effectively," he said.

The company is also in the midst of a three-year program to upgrade its IT architecture in Asia.