Axa Wealth Int’l posts Q1 growth amid ‘challenging’ market
Axa Wealth International has seen funds under management grow by nearly £500m throughout the first quarter of 2015, as the wider Axa Wealth group records across-the-board growth.
The international arm’s FuM reached £9.1bn, up £400m from the £8.7bn recorded in Q1 2014.
Mike Foy, managing director at Axa Wealth International, said the company’s growth has come during a particularly tumultuous time for the UK financial services market.
“The most obvious change has been in the advice landscape and the difference in providers,” he said. “This has been a particularly challenging environment for product providers in their efforts to support an increasingly fluid distribution landscape.
“While different providers approach the market in differing ways, Axa Wealth, including Axa Wealth International, believes that the fundamentals of the offshore proposition in the UK market remain as strong and as relevant as ever.
“While it is still early days, it is expected that the new pension environment will open up new opportunities for such products as both a source of pension funding and its tax-efficient drawdown.”
Growth
In February, Axa Wealth International announced that it had seen offshore funds under management rise by £400m over 2014.
In today’s results, the wider Axa Wealth group revealed that its funds under management grew by 13% in Q1 to reach £29.1bn.
Funds on its wrap platform grew by over a quarter to reach £10bn, its largest ever monthly inflows, while funds on its specialist SiPP and investment platform rose to £18.5bn.
Mike Kellard, chief executive of Axa Wealth, said: “I am very keen to see how consumers react to the [pension] changes over the coming months. At the moment, we are seeing a lot of interest in the new options we are offering, particularly as we were one of only a few companies that were ‘pension freedom ready’ across out entire suite, including pensions and drawdown, before 6 April.
“Far from being careless, I am seeing that most people recognise that their money has to last their whole retirement – indications so far are that most people will do the right thing for themselves and their family.
