Australian Wealth Management (AWM) has cemented its relationship with the Credit Union Services Corporation of Australia (CUSCAL) with all but two existing credit unions signing AWM’s new referral incentive agreements.

CUSCAL, which originally sold its Bridges Financial Services dealer to Tower in September 2000 for $168 million, provides central banking services to over 150 credit unions and has had a longstanding referral arrangement with Tower and now its AWM spin off. Bridges continues to provide financial planning and advice to credit union members and also supports AWM’s platform The Portfolio Service (TPS). The new credit union incentive program will be rolled out nationally next year, according to Andrew Barnes, AWM chief said. AWM’s final payment to CUSCAL under the previous arrangement is due at the end of this month, and updated formal contracts are in place. “In past we worked on a handshake-like basis around the amount placed on TPS, but the new arrangement is more linked to new business placed on TPS rather than historical business,” Barnes said. TPS currently has $4.6 billion under management and is exclusively used by Bridges planners. The system runs off UK-based platform provider Pathfinder, but AWM is always looking at its options in this space, Barnes said. “The platform business is going one way and we don’t market TPS to the broader market like other platforms. “TPS is externally manufactured and supported, but we’re continually reviewing providers in the market,” he said.