As reported on Tuesday, Axa Wealth International has made seven roles redundant within its offshore team, including five international development manager and two account director positions.
In turn, the company has created seven new roles to reflect what Foy said was a shift in the “battle lines” following the implementation of the UK’s Retail Distribution Review. Specifically, Foy said his team has now been refocused to target retail private banks, platforms and IFAs and wealth managers.
“As with most providers we tried to guess what the battle lines may look like in a post RDR world and the reality has been slightly different, so we are reacting to this,” said Foy.
The managing director explained that as well as a shift in the way it finds new business he believes offshore products are becoming more mainstream.
“We’re finding the knowledge of the IFAs we deal with is increasing as offshore becomes more mainstream – it’s not really the dark secret it used to be. This means technical support can be provided from in-house so the need for technical specialists out in the field is diminishing. In addition our general sales guys’ knowledge of the offshore market is lifting.”
With regards to the platform market, Foy said companies have been “playing a watching brief” as to how big the platform market will become and have found that “yes, offshore bonds being sold off a platform is an increasing share of the market”.
Foy added that this has not been an area Axa has previously explicitly targeted but will do now following the restructure of the team.
Product enhancements
Axa Wealth International has also announced a number of “enhancements” to products in its offshore range, to give advisers a broader range of charging options and trust features.
The company said it had made the enhancements in response to adviser feedback that it received in the first quarter of this year. This followed an announcement by the company that it would be able to facilitate a range of adviser charges on its offshore products ahead of the RDR deadline.
In a statement, the company said the main enhancements include:
- Ongoing adviser charging within its Estate Planning Bond is now possible as a fixed monetary amount or a percentage of the bond value, “giving clients and advisers more choice in their payment options”
- The trust deeds of the company’s Estate Planning Bond product have been amended to facilitate, where required, “the delegation of investment powers to the settlor”. This is said to provide clients with more control over the investment strategy within their trust, while at the same time allowing them to continue to have a relationship with their existing investment adviser
- A new "Adviser Charges Pack" has been created, to provide clients with the information and materials needed to set up various adviser charging options
Simon Willoughby, head of proposition, Axa Wealth International, said the “enhancements” would complement the company’s existing range of charging options, which includes a facility known as Flex/Charge, in response to the arrival of a “fee-based world”.
Click here to read how the RDR impacted sales of offshore bonds last year
