Tim Neville

Centrepoint Alliance, a leading provider of advice and business services to financial advice firms throughout Australia, and FNZ, a leading global wealth management platform, have announced the launch of a new investment platform, IconiQ. The platform is designed to empower financial advisers in managing their clients’ investments with ease and efficiency, developed on FNZ’s globally leading wealth management technology.

IconiQ comprises two solutions: IconiQ Investment and Super Wrap. The Investment wrap is a comprehensive investment account designed to cater to a diverse range of financial needs, providing access to a vast array of investment options consolidated under an easy-to-navigate, intuitive user interface.

Super Wrap, the IconiQ Superannuation Platform, offers end-to-end superannuation experience for advisers and their clients with accumulation, transition to retirement and pension, empowering financial advisers to manage portfolios within a simple, low cost and easy to understand interface.

IconiQ will provide advisers with:

• Rich user experience and functionality: Features and functionality for enhanced portfolio management across investments and superannuation.
• Digital-first tools: Prioritising efficiency alongside human touch for a seamless experience with streamlined workflows, real-time analytics, and intuitive dashboards.
• Access to quality managers: Access to leading Australian and global investment managers.
• Competitive pricing: Simple pricing structure with flat administration fees, aggregated pricing for families and related parties, and no minimum or standing costs.

The partnership with FNZ reflects Centrepoint Alliance’s commitment to an open architecture model and provides access to global scale, support, and ongoing development to deliver the best adviser and customer experience.

With more than 1,300 advisers, Centrepoint is one of Australia’s largest providers of licensee services for financial advisers. The launch of IconiQ therefore presents a significant opportunity to tap into Australia’s c. $1.1 trillion platform market, and demonstrates FNZ’s expanding presence in Australia, where around 500 colleagues are based across offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

John Shuttleworth, Centrepoint Alliance, Chief Executive Officer, said: “In developing IconiQ, we have ensured that advisers have access to one of the highest quality investment management and portfolio administration solutions at highly competitive prices. As an ‘open architecture’ solution provider, we are committed to providing a choice of platforms and investment managers. We strive to ensure that clients achieve the best after-fee returns without paying excessive fees for portfolio administration. Leveraging our scale and expertise, we are proud to offer a globally leading platform solution.”

Tim Neville, CEO Asia Pacific, FNZ said: “FNZ is delighted to have delivered the IconiQ platform in partnership with Centrepoint. IconiQ is a state-of-the-art platform which will empower advisors with the tools and capabilities they need to grow and deliver for their clients. FNZ is proud to partner with Centrepoint to bring this innovative product to market and continue to drive personalised and efficient investment solutions across the wealth management sector in Australia.”

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Kelly Power

Colonial First State (CFS) has announced the launch of CFS Edge, the most contemporary wealth management platform in the market, bringing world-class technology and capability to the Australian financial advice sector and their clients.

Developed in collaboration with FNZ, a global leader in wealth management platforms, CFS Edge will transform the way advisers can service their clients through features not before seen in the Australian market.  CFS Edge will enable digital adviser workflows, advanced data analytics, an integrated app store and analysis tools for licensees, advisers and members.

“CFS Edge is the first major new platform in the Australian wealth management sector in almost a decade.  It utilises the best global wealth management technology and has been uniquely co-developed with financial advisers from the very start,” said Kelly Power, Chief Executive Officer of Colonial First State Superannuation.

Seamless two-way integration with financial planning software

With CFS Edge advisers can seamlessly integrate with their preferred technology partners thanks to open APIs and real-time two-way data integration.

“At CFS we’re thinking differently about how we make sure advisers have access to the best capability available anywhere in the world.  Our approach is to have an open platform that allows for seamless, secure integration with leading advice technology providers. This enables advisers to set up new clients in seconds, eliminates the risk of errors and significantly improves the user experience to give advisers more time to focus on their clients,” said Ms Power.

CFS Edge has real-time two-way integration with financial planning software including Iress Xplan and Adviser Logic, with plans to rapidly expand integration with other technology providers by giving fintech providers the ability to access a developer portal to build their own connections on the platform.

Flexibility and personalisation

Many financial advisers are seeking greater flexibility to run their businesses more efficiently and to be able to better service their clients. Benefiting from co-development with advisers, CFS Edge uses a modular approach, which is highly configurable to suit individual preferences and business requirements.

By partnering with FNZ, CFS Edge will enable advisers to deliver even more personalised investment solutions to their clients, through accessing an even wider range of investment capability and reporting functionality to support their recommendations and engagement with clients.

“Flexibility and configuration are at the core of CFS Edge. The platform gives advisers extensive control and allows for a level of personalisation not seen in the Australian market,” added Ms Power.

Managed accounts and continuous enhancement

CFS Edge is the first major wealth management platform with managed accounts at its core. The platform offers advanced modelling tools designed to support deeper analysis through greater customisation and granularity in the comparisons and portfolio analysis that can be undertaken.

“CFS Edge is a full-service wrap platform from day one, offering market leading super, pension and investments capability with advanced managed accounts at the core. The quality of the platform and our service experience is paramount.  We have undertaken extensive market testing at every stage and are delighted to now launch CFS Edge to the whole market,” said Ms Power.

In the coming weeks, additional features such as ESG preferences will be released alongside capabilities that will further expand the range of available investment options and provide even greater functionality for advisers.

Global insights and intelligence

CFS Edge has been designed to give advisers predictive insights and alerts, enabling them to see new advice and growth opportunities, highlight areas of inefficiency and pre-empt potential issues for their clients. These insights are benchmarked against peers in Australia and globally and can be tailored to different roles including licensee, business owner, adviser, or support staff.

Developed with a global leader in wealth management technology

FNZ is a global leader in wealth management platform technology, administering over $2.2 trillion in client assets and partnering with over 650 of the world’s leading financial institutions and over 8,000 wealth management firms.

Tim Neville, CEO, FNZ APAC, said: “FNZ is delighted to have delivered the Edge platform in partnership with CFS. Our partnership with CFS is truly exciting, leveraging their market leading service, expertise, and reach.

We are proud to deliver a unique combination of our local and global capabilities. Together, we aim to revolutionise the industry and deliver unparalleled value and capability to the Australian market.”

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