AMP is poised to launch a new master trust product aimed at medium to large corporate funds within the next few weeks.
The proposed name of the new offering is still with AMP’s lawyers, but AMP’s head of corporate superannuation strategy Ken Lockery says its working name has been “Platinum” to reflect its target — the premium end of the market. “In many ways, its more of a service than a product,” he says.
AMP already manages $20 billion in it’s master trust products, of which between $8 and $9 billion belongs to its corporate superannuation division. All master trust businesses, except one, have been moved onto a single platform, through which over two million active members are administered.
“This gives us the scale to have a sustainable business on an ongoing basis,” says Lockery, who warns of large future consolidation of those master trusts which fail to win scale.
He says the costs of areas like technology, imaging and the call centre are all spread across a very large base, giving AMP the industry’s smallest cost per member and making it easy for the group to keep investing in its platform.
Defined benefit components of funds will be handled in-house by the master trust and will be fully integrated with accumulation components, making the offering completely seamless from a client’s point of view.
The master trust will have around 55 member investment choices, including multi-manager as well as passive or active options. The aim, says Lockery, is to give members genuine choice and great flexibility in structuring investments.
