Money: Click and pick investment site

By RICHARD BRADDELL

Internet-smart upper income young professionals are the key target of a new financial services website launched by AMP.

The company has joined more than 20 other providers of fund management, life and general insurance, mortgage broking and online sharetrading to form the online market called Liquid.co.nz.

Although a wholly owned subsidiary of AMP, Liquid's managing director Peter Larsen said the site was a completely independent one-stop-shop offering products from the likes of Axa, Tower, BNZ, BT Funds Management, Guardian, Mike Pero Mortgages as well as AMP.

The site offers a range of financial and retirement planning tools as well as a choice of fund managers and savings products.

It also allows comparisons of product features and prices.

Insurance policies offered by Royal & SunAlliance, State, HIH and AMP, can be compared and applied for online, but it is still not possible to pay for transactions.

The site offers only limited transactional services which generally require pre-registration. Among them is sharetrading via Access Brokerage.

Mr Larsen said it was possible that banking services would be offered through Liquid at a later date. AMP estimates that about 18 per cent of the population has the internet skills and awareness to use Liquid.

AMP believes Liquid should start paying for itself in about five years out of sales-linked commissions paid by the vendors on the site.


Links


Liquid.co.nz