Our regular round-up of the latest insights on investment distribution
Can the FCA tame the DIY decumulation market?
Nearly a third of pension drawdown sales are non-advised. This figure rises sharply if you also include first-time access as a full cash withdrawal, annuity purchase and simplified withdrawal under the UFPLS rules. Perhaps it is time for this significant swathe of...
Andrew Ashwood 28 June 2019
European platforms: in a different class
We’re seeing a slow rise in the use of clean share classes across Europe, challenging the existing business models of many platforms. And, unfortunately, we can’t look to the UK for a hint of where we’ll end up. While clean share classes are more or less ubiquitous...
Richard Bradley 21 June 2019
Select Lists and Select Committees
With the Woodford furore well into its second week, the focus has moved onto platforms. Hargreaves Lansdown has a list of questions from the Treasury Select Committee to answer by next Tuesday. How often are select list inclusions considered and what impact do they...
Jeremy Fawcett 14 June 2019
Woodford’s liquidity crisis
Many investment professionals were promoting the Woodford Equity Income fund to investors, so what are the practical implications of the gating debacle for the retail channel? Platforum data on direct platform select lists shows that at the start of 2018, Woodford...
Jeremy Fawcett and Andrew Ashwood 07 June 2019
European platforms as data businesses
If the role of the EU’s Financial Services Action Plan is to harmonise financial services across Europe, then MiFID II is, so far, hardly a roaring success. National interpretations of the rules differ, there are carve outs for segments of the industry and...
Richard Bradley 31 May 2019
The raging debate on retirement income
The debate around how to generate sustainable retirement income has continued to rage this week. Pre-pension freedoms, this problem hardly existed: the requirement of a base level of guaranteed income before accessing flexible drawdown effectively excluded all but...
Richard Bradley 24 May 2019