BNZ has $2.4 billion in funds under management, comprising nine retail trusts, four retail superannuation funds, two wholesale unit trusts and five wholesale superannuation schemes.

The business will be owned by AXA subsidiary Assure New Zealand.

The deal brings AXA an additional 40,000 customers and takes the company’s funds under management to just under $6 billion.

“We bought Spicers in 2001, Ipac (in Australia) in 2002 and Sterling in 2003 and it’s all part of a drive to build strong capacity and platforms,” AXA New Zealand chief executive Ralph Stewart says.

“We want to focus on growing our investor base: This means BNZ can spend more time talking and providing investment advice, leaving the product management service to AXA.”

And he says the change also gives AXA great scale – “scale is important to us and has been a big part of our strategy over recent years.”

The scale side of things played a part on the other side too, says BNZ general manager personal financial services, Blair Vernon.

The BNZ “has been restricted in its ability to develop new opportunities due to the relatively small size of the New Zealand market,” he says.

For customers, they will notice very little change. BNZ will still be the “shop front” and customers will still talk to bank staff for investment advice and to make changes to their investments through the bank, as they do now.