AMP picks Mercer, drops Van Eyk

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AMP Financial Services has chosen Mercer as its new research partner after a review, leaving Australian research house Van Eyk out in the cold.

Wednesday, February 13th 2013, 8:53AM 1 Comment

by Niko Kloeten

Van Eyk came to New Zealand in late 2009 on the back of a research partnership with AMP, which was exclusive to AMP for the first year Van Eyk was in this country.

However, following its merger with Axa, AMP was left with two research providers as Mercer had been the preferred provider for Axa.

AMP conducted separate reviews for its Australian and New Zealand businesses and late last year the Australian arm announced it had chosen Morningstar, although it continued to use Van Eyk for certain services.

Mercer will provide external research, consultancy services, and financial adviser tools, AMP said today.

It said Mercer has strong capabilities in all three of the service areas sought by AMP, including a highly rated financial adviser tool that will support AMP’s financial advisers’ delivery of high quality advice to customers.

“Providing access to expert, objective research to our network of AMP financial advisers supports them in meeting their accountabilities under the new compliance regime for financial advisers, which is designed to help to build confidence and professionalism in the sector,” said Nick Scarlett, AMP’s general manager, QAN & Adviser Sales.

As a global firm with a New Zealand based investments team, Mercer has an in-depth knowledge of the New Zealand market and can provide real-time support to AMP Financial Services’ New Zealand business, he said.

“The process of integrating AXA and AMP has provided an opportunity to review and reassess our needs in a number of areas, including external research. Streamlining our supplier arrangements and ensuring best fit with our needs will ultimately benefit our customers in terms of service quality,” Scarlett said.

Niko Kloeten can be contacted at niko@goodreturns.co.nz

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