Centric doubles growth in the last 12 months, solidifying its disrupter status in the Australian platform market

Sydney, Australia - 26 September 2023. In the past twelve months, indie Aussie wealth management and investment platform, Centric has more than doubled its FUA (Funds Under Administration) and platform users.

With FUA now sitting at A$8.5 billion and total user numbers of more than 14,500, Centric is fast solidifying its disrupter status as a key player in the emerging adviser-focussed fintech space.

Central to this success has been a three-fold increase in the platform’s financial dealer network demonstrating its unique position in the market that blends a high-quality offering with a fixed-price model delivering significant value to advisers and clients alike at a compelling cost proposition.

“Our alternative platform solution puts the adviser-client experience front and centre. Our current client base is effectively $20 million better off by using our platform, through lower platform fees and higher cash rates. We know the pain points advisers face and are committed to simplifying the client management process. This has clearly resonated strongly with the industry,” says Centric Chief Product Officer, Jennifer McDermott.

“In an environment where the cost of doing business for financial advisers in Australia has increased exponentially, with the Financial Planning Association of Australia stating as much as 25% or more¹ since 2019, our fixed-price platform fee is geared to providing certainty to our clients and importantly means that there are no financial disadvantages for advisers achieving financial success. Regardless of how well they grow their client’s portfolio, they can be assured that we’ll be there in the background doing what they need us to do for a transparent price. It also supports our goal of making financial advice more accessible for more Australians.”

Core to this growth has been Centric’s secure yet intuitive wealth platform, developed in partnership with leading global wealth management platform provider FNZ. FNZ's cutting-edge technology empowers personalised wealth solutions, enabling financial advisors and dealer groups to offer enhanced services in an increasingly complex and regulated environment.

Building on this, Centric’s platform-as-a-service offering opens up market channels which are not traditionally serviced by other platform offerings within Australia, notably enabling Centric to offer platform solutions to other enterprises wishing to enter the platform market as an adjacent service.

Wayne Lowe, Managing Director, FNZ Australia, added: “We are delighted to see Centric's platform thriving in the Australian advice market, building on the vision of leveraging innovation to enable advisers to service their clients in a way that suits their service proposition.”

In addition, the market is also responding well to Centric’s client portal and unique adviser-client bridge, which advisers can access remotely to support clients with various tasks and help explain returns, portfolio changes and more.

The Centric offering incorporates both investor-directed portfolio service (IDPS) products and a public offer superannuation fund, Centric Super.

Centric launched the IDPS offering in April 2020 followed closely by the launch of Centric Super in December 2020. Equity Trustees is the trustee of Centric Super.