Our regular round-up of the latest insights on investment distribution

Adviser platform assets reached £378bn at the end of Q2 and our latest UK Adviser Guide, published this week, details a sector with as many moving part as ever. We’re seeing the impact of the pension freedoms driving new assets onto platform which is making up 77%...

At Platforum, we are often asked whether we believe assets on retail adviser platforms will continue to grow. The simple answer is “yes”. The most important reason is rising stock market prices. But some people tell us that they suspect that the proportion of...

Every quarter, as part of the Adviser Platform Guide, Platforum takes the temperature on what advisers really think of platforms. A number of issues have been getting advisers’ goats but there are some gold stars in areas where platforms are getting it right (or in...

It's a little known fact that the Swedes lead Europe – and probably the world – when it comes to the proportion of the population that puts their money in equities and other risk based investments. We think the Brits are pretty high up the scale, with some 28% of...

Big week in platform world. The industry’s worst kept secret finally became a reality as Aegon confirmed it was buying Cofunds. Experts and their mums took to Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs to share the ‘deets’ and offer their views. Having had a bit of time to...

Aegon’s acquisition of Cofunds would create a combined entity with £87.7 billion in assets under administration (AUA). If we include the assets from the BlackRock acquisition, AUA stands at circa £97.9 billion. Taking into account retail assets only, the combined...