AvivaMar 2 2022

Aviva to work with Succession Wealth to decide platform future

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Aviva to work with Succession Wealth to decide platform future

Aviva has said it will work with Succession Wealth following its purchase of the firm on a plan for how its platforms will operate.

Speaking to FTAdviser today (March 2), Doug Brown, chief executive officer of UK & Ireland Life at Aviva, said there will be no changes to the way Succession Wealth runs on day one but discussions will be had later.

Aviva announced this morning it had purchased national IFA Succession Wealth in a deal worth up to £385mn, subject to regulatory approval.

Brown said: “Nothing changes initially for Succession Wealth - they continue to do the business as they currently do.

"They do have their own platform. We obviously also have our platform which we think is extremely strong, evidenced by today's results. We have other strong offerings, but nothing changes for them on day one, and they'll continue to operate as they do today.

“We think we have a strong offering across our platform and asset management capabilities and other things and so we will work with Succession Wealth to figure out what is the best proposition for their customers and advisers.”

Succession Wealth uses a white-label version of the Ascentric platform, which was bought by M&G from Royal London in 2020, bringing £14bn in assets and 1,500 adviser customers.

Meanwhile, Aviva uses an advised platform, powered by FNZ, which holds clients' investments and targets mid-market to high net worth retail customers who pay for advice and invest their money, and it houses both an investment range and product wrappers. 

In a stock market update, Aviva said the Succession deal “significantly enhances” its presence in the wealth market as more people seek advice for their retirement and savings options. 

Aviva Financial Advice versus Succession Wealth

Last year, Aviva told FTAdviser it would launch a simplified advice pilot which will be a low-cost digital version of Aviva Financial Advice.

The FTSE 100 firm said it planned to launch a pilot which would be a simpler, digitised model at a low cost point, to help clients decide whether they are in the right funds and whether they should consolidate pensions.

However, in January, Aviva Financial Advice said it was finalising the outline of its simplified advice pilot and expects to launch in the first quarter of this year, following a slight delay.

Brown said Aviva Financial Advice will operate alongside Succession Wealth to complement one another. 

“As we engage with our customers, different customers have different needs. Some may want to engage with us directly, some may want to engage with us with more simplified, hybrid advice and some may want more holistic financial planning,” he said.

“The way that we see it is that clearly the AFA business is really suited to customers with simpler advice needs with perhaps smaller pot sizes and so forth, whereas, Succession Wealth can sit alongside that, so there is something that can really appeal to the mass affluent, high net worth customers, and those that have a little bit more sophisticated requirements.”

Brown added that the two businesses complement each other well and when this is put alongside other components, such as the Wealthify business - which is aimed at clients who want to go direct - then Aviva has "a whole whole breadth of offers for preparing customer needs".

Full year results

Aviva also published its full-year results today and reported record net flows in savings and retirement of £10bn and an increase of 58 per cent to £5.54bn in net flows for the adviser platform market. 

Brown said Aviva has invested a lot in both the functionality and proposition on the adviser platform which has driven the growth.

Aviva also works with advisers to make sure that it is improving year on year and broadens out distribution teams to make sure that it builds relations with the IFAs.

“We know our platforms are competitively priced, our service levels continue to be strong,” he said.

“All of that is probably culminating in the support to the volumes that we're seeing. We launched the ESG tool to the platform and we will continue to launch things that both help the adviser with their customer but also increase efficiency for them.”

Brown added: “The advised platform is half of the net flows and the corporate pension, workplace makes up the other; we continue to invest in our master trust and our offering, making sure that we have good post retirement strategies and we make things as seamless for our customers as possible. 

“We have Aviva Investors, supporting the default fund and our ambitions around ESG and net zero and that's obviously compelling for trustees, and then those investing in their pension. So I think all of those things are helping to drive the flows.”

sonia.rach@ft.com

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