Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is negotiating with a number of parties interested in buying its Avanteos wholesale wrap platform.
The bank had decided it was in the best interest of the business to concentrate on the larger Colonial First State-run FirstChoice platform, following a strategic review of the group's platform businesses, Colonial First State chief executive officer Brian Bissaker said.
"There have been a number of parties that have approached us so we are in discussions with them," Bissaker said.
"It is one of a number of options and if terms were favourable on both sides, then that may be a course of action."
He would not comment on the other options.
FirstChoice and Avanteos platforms work on different architecture, business models and corporate structures; with one based in Melbourne and the other in Sydney.
"The platform industry has developed over the last four or five years while we've had these platforms running side by side. It just seems now the right thing to do going forward," Bissaker said.
"The question for us was do you allocate capital across two platforms or just one? We think it's right to allocate it to one rather than two."
The move comes as the group confirmed Goldman Sachs JBWere was withdrawing $5 billion in funds under administration from the Avanteos platform.
"This wasn't the trigger for the decision, it was part of the decision-making process, but wasn't a major point," Bissaker said.
Avanteos came out on top of the third annual Platform Report by Investment Trends in December, six points or more than 10 per cent ahead of its closest competitor as the best overall full-function platform solution for advisers.
Avanteos currently administers $11 billion in funds on behalf of nine wholesale customers through 10 branded platforms. Based in Melbourne, Avanteos has been developing solutions for the wrap platform market since 1994.
