- To deliver best possible value, service and performance
- To develop a centralised adviser support service
17 July 2008
AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management (“AXA Winterthur”)* has announced a reorganisation to its business to provide the best possible value, service and performance.
The reorganisation will see the construction of its new financial services business model branded AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management, offering both the AXA and Winterthur wealth propositions. Key to this is the creation of a new, specialist sales team for wealth management, offering access to the full range of AXA and Winterthur branded wealth products, while Architas, the new multi-manager company, will provide both guided architecture and a leading range of multi-manager funds.
The new team will ultimately provide a single point of contact for advisers, and will be fully aligned to the company’s chosen market segments – mass affluent and high-net-worth clients via intermediaries.
The announcement follows a detailed review of the current wealth management businesses, focused in particular on meeting both customers and the business’s needs in the future.
Mike Kellard, CEO, AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management, says, “The primary aim of our new model is simple, to provide all our customers with the best products and service possible on a consistent basis. This will be done through one point of contact, based on Winterthur’s award-winning service model, whilst protecting the strength of both propositions and offering the full range of AXA and Winterthur wealth products with simplified access and improved service.”
AXA Winterthur’s new financial services business model will harness AXA Wealth Management, the AXA Isle of Man business and Winterthur - including its brand - to bring an exciting new proposition to market. AXA Winterthur will exploit the very best both wealth management businesses offer, from award-winning customer service to market leading propositions and innovative technology. This will include not only new fund of funds and manager of manager propositions from Architas, including the former AXA Framlington range of multi-manager funds which went live on July 1 2008, but access to the AXA Elevate ‘wrap’ platform as well.
Kellard added, “With our strong track record, we are ideally placed to not only meet the demands of today’s financial markets but to play a leading role within it in the post retail distribution review marketplace. The new model must also improve the business’s overall financial performance, to enable the company to bring new products and services to market, and to continue to provide the greatly enhanced support to advisers, which was the original foundation of our proposition.
“The financial services industry is a fast evolving sector, yet it has been impacted by the current economic downturn. With AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management advisers and their clients will benefit over time from a strong service offering, a unique and powerful product proposition and, during the current economic difficulties, the strength of one of the largest and strongest companies in the world.”
Main themes
- Leading edge customer services - simplified structure and enhanced processes will aim, over time, to deliver individual customer care and support
- Structure of sales force – clear-segmented market serviced by a new, specialised sales team with access to the full range of AXA and Winterthur wealth products. The new model will leverage best practice in terms of sales support across the business
- The development of a centralised adviser support unit, based on the Winterthur model – designed to deliver streamlined and dedicated adviser business support, replacing the decentralised AXA branch business support network. It is expected that around 90 roles may be impacted as a result of this decision although redeployment opportunities will be investigated within the wider AXA Group.
Kellard concludes, “This is a very exciting opportunity to redefine our Wealth Management businesses into a powerful, unified team, fit to take on the opportunities and challenges coming its way. The new business model aims to offer a market leading proposition and service which we believe will place AXA Winterthur in an enviable position in the market.”
-End-
*AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management, the wealth management arm of AXA in the UK, comprises Winterthur's high net worth wealth management business, AXA's wealth management businesses including the Individual Pension and Investment business of AXA and the leading International business based in the Isle of Man. Additionally the wealth management business will benefit from a new multi-manager fund management proposition named Architas, which is a separate company, part of AXA Group.
For further information:
Paul Riddell, Press Office, +44 (0)1256 798099
Becky Holmes, Press Office, +44 (0)1256 798310
Christine Wood, FD, +44 (0)20 7269 7253
Notes to Editors
AXA & Winterthur Wealth Management
AXA is a worldwide insurance group. In the UK the two AXA companies offering the Wealth Management proposition are, Winterthur Life UK Limited (registered no.3116645) and AXA Sun Life Services PLC (registered no.3424940).
Winterthur Life UK Limited and AXA Sun Life Services PLC are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Both companies are registered in England and have their registered office at 5 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1AD.
AXA
AXA UK is a part of the AXA Group. AXA Group is a worldwide leader in Financial Protection.
AXA's operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. IFRS revenues amounted to €94 billion for the full year 2007.
The AXA ordinary share is listed on Compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISIN FR0000120628 - Bloomberg: CS FP - Reuters: AXAF.PA). The American Depository Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AXA.
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