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

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...

Aside from great chocolate, stunning ski resorts and high-quality watches, Switzerland is home to a global hub for wealth management. There are 586 banks and more than 3,500 independent wealth managers operating in a country with a population of 8m. Fund groups of...

As from yesterday, Scalable Capital is now fully live in the UK. While it might represent the next generation of robo-adviser from an investment management perspective, the future for ‘independents’ looks challenging as they struggle to achieve scale. Having said...