Based in Bristol and Basingstoke, Links will predominantly deal with Elevate clients who are UK-based financial advisors. He will run the team’s operations, oversee regulatory requirements, drive efficiency and enhance the overall platform experience, the firm said in a statement. He will report to chief operating officer Andrew Smith.

Links joins from advisory firm Transact, where he managed operations and proposition development; he also previously had similar responsbilities at Saunderson House.

AXA Wealth last week reported that during March a hefty 40 per cent of flows went into clean share class funds – a trend which the firm believes indicates a “significant change in advisor behaviour”. Many have predicted the imminent death of fund rebates in light of the Retail Distribution Review package of reforms, which came into force at the end of last year; AXA has said it expects the popularity of clean share classes to increase dramatically and Links’ appointment forms part of the firms' push in this area. It will, for example, add another 1,000 clean share class funds to its platform over the summer.

As at the end of 2012, the AXA group had €1.1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) in assets under management.