BT will retain its Panorama investment platform, stating it has ended the sales process and will finance the business so it can “compete aggressively” in the platform market.
BT chief executive Matt Rady said since the merger of its personal and corporate superannuation with Mercer earlier this year, the company was now “a simpler business focused on platforms”.
“BT is a vibrant brand with more than 25 years of leadership in platforms and is now a simpler, better business,” Rady said.
“The BT brand is synonymous with supporting financial advice and I am really excited to take the business into a new era as we continue to support quality financial advice to thrive.”
In terms of investment in the platform, he said improvements for advisers and investors would be driven by feedback from dealer groups and advisers and time-saving features for advisers and practice staff were a priority.
“We have already delivered initiatives, including the BT Panorama Online Service Request Tracker, advice fee consent simplification, increase in client payment limits, design distribution obligation tools and a significant upgrade to the mobile app, including the addition of the chat bot ‘Blue’,” Rady said.
“We are continuing to grow our broad investment propositions, including our managed accounts offering and expanding our wholesale investor fund menu.”
The retention of the Panorama platform has been announced six months after news that BT was closing its SMSF administration service on the platform.
At the time, BT stated in an email to Panorama SMSF services clients that it had “decided to simplify its current SMSF offers and will cease offering the Panorama SMSF establishment and administration services effective 23 December 2021”.
“This change is part of our simplification program, allowing us to focus on our core platform capabilities and our ongoing program of improvements,” it said.
At 31 March, Panorama had $131 billion in funds under administration with more than 350,000 investor accounts and was used by more than 7800 advisers.
