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.
Asset owners that have set emission reduction targets face the onerous task of collecting and aggregating emissions data for every asset they own, and the challenge has been particularly complex for unlisted assets. Aware Super head of responsible investment Liza McDonald says working with the provider of the infrastructure that connects asset owners to asset managers and underlying assets has been “a brilliant step”.
Simon HoyleMay 12, 2025
