Nationwide adviser network, Wealthpoint, has boosted its investment offer, appointing a new senior executive, external asset consultant and platform provider.
Last week Wealthpoint, which emerged out the national AMP-associated adviser collective in 2018, named Keri Jenkins in the newly created position of head of investments.
Jenkins, most recently Fonterra head of strategic projects, joins Wealthpoint as the group revamps its range of services ahead of the new regulatory regime beginning next March.
In addition to the new hire, Wealthpoint has named Makao Investments as asset consultant while adding the FNZ technology-backed Consilium as a platform provider to the group composed of 55 advice practices and 150 plus advisers.
While many of the Wealthpoint advisers focus on insurance (and other financial services), the network advises on a substantial investment book of more than $3.5 billion.
In a statement, Wealthpoint says Jenkins “will lead an investment analytics and administration team and will develop and grow Wealthpoint’s investment proposition supporting member businesses and their investment clients”.
“Keri’s focus is to ensure these clients have access to high performing contemporary products and services that are competitively priced,” the release says.
Along with the newly appointed Makao and Consilium, Wealthpoint third-party suppliers include the AMP NZ investment platform, Wealthview (also run on FNZ tech), and research house, Morningstar.
Makao, founded last year by former Russell Investments head of institutional Noah Schiltknecht, replaces the asset consulting services previously supplied by AMP (which uses Mercer for fund manager selection).
Prior to Fonterra, Jenkins held investment roles with South African fund management shop, Coronation, where her work covered “broad capital markets work, funds management, equity markets research, and analysis”, the release says.
Simon Manning, Wealthpoint chief, said in the statement: “Keri is a high calibre investment professional and we’re delighted she has joined us. Her appointment is significant for Wealthpoint as it demonstrates our intention to develop a market leading investment offering for Wealthpoint’s advisers and their clients. It is an important milestone in the delivery of our strategy to enhance member benefits, provide more choice and to lower member costs.”
Formerly the AMP NZ Adviser Association, Wealthpoint formed as its sponsor company changed tack in preparation for the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act (FSLAA).
AMP closed its Quality Advice Network, which had over 300 members, to focus on readying its in-house employed advisers and subsidiary group, AdviceFirst, for life under FSLAA.
Structured as a co-operative, Wealthpoint is owned by its underlying adviser firms, which offer a range of financial services such as personal and general insurance, mortgages and investments (including KiwiSaver).