Standard Life has completed its takeover of Axa’s Elevate platform following regulatory approval of the purchase, and has launched talks with advisers on how it will affect them.
The acquisition finalises a deal announced in May, and sees Standard Life’s share of the UK platform business swell to £40bn assets under administration.
This includes net inflows of £5.1bn in the last 12 months, according to Standard Life.
In total Elevate and Standard Life’s own platform serve around 3,000 adviser businesses and 360,000 customers.
Barry O’Dwyer, CEO, Standard Life Savings Ltd, said completing the deal within the timescale it anticipated means it is now “able to engage with Elevate advisers to agree how best to work with them going forward”.
David Tiller, Standard Life’s head of adviser and wealth manager Propositions, said the acquisition is “a clear sign of our continued commitment to lead the UK adviser platform market”.
He added an adviser consultation was launched last week to engage with the sector on how the takeover will affect them.
“Elevate provides highly rated and multi-award winning platform services to a large number of advisers we do not currently have a close relationship with.
“Last week the adviser consultation programme was launched, and we hope to talk to as many of the Elevate advisers as possible over the coming months to gain insight and feedback.
“This will help us to prioritise the things they value most, allowing us to evolve their proposition to support their businesses and their clients while delivering a sustainable platform.”
laura.miller@ft.com
