Many of the UK and continental Europe’s distribution experts gathered at Platforum ID – the Investment Distribution Conference this week. Like so many good conversations, you tend to come out with more questions than you went in with.
Intermediated distribution was the core focus but we also looked at trends in D2C and the next phase of digital for personal investing.
- Will open banking provide the rocket fuel of data that will enable some companies to be ‘financial control centres’ for their clients?
- How are financial advisers able to charge more for building portfolios than fund groups with their big brands and research teams?
The sector is hot with M&A including private equity interest. The acquisition of Allfunds Bank was the first billion-Euro deal for a platform and helped set in motion a whole series of UK IPOs including an AIM listing for Nucleus.
Vertical integration is creating economies of scale and will continue to thrive despite conflicts of interests. Meanwhile, digital engagement is evolving with propositions shifting to mobile delivery requiring the emergence of in-house development teams.
Implementation of MiFID II has been a huge drain and it challenges wealth managers to keep the promises they make to clients. Increasing ‘cost to serve’ means that they will need to seek out technology driven solutions. Robo advisers are increasingly adding regulated advice to their propositions and traditional advisers need to scale through automation even when face-to-face advice remains at the core of their service.
On top of all that, retirement remains the primary opportunity. For anyone looking for data and insights to inform their thinking on that topic, we’ve recently published a report on Advice in Decumulation.