Our regular round-up of the latest insights on investment distribution
Is pricing opacity a risky strategy?
There’s a lack of transparency around adviser platform pricing, which could be undermining competition in this crucial market, according to our latest UK Adviser Platforms: Pricing report. Pricing structures can be complex and confusing and are often poorly...
William Moss 02 December 2022
Who are the online investing stars of 2022?
The advice gap is on the mind of the new City Minister, according to his comments at yesterday’s TISA conference. This is welcome news to online investing services that say they can do more to help the over 16m UK adults who have investible assets of £10,000 but...
Jeremy Fawcett 25 November 2022
What’s the maximum number of clients per adviser?
UK financial advisers have served steadily increasing numbers of ongoing clients in recent years, with each adviser now having an average of 115 ongoing clients – up from only 86 in 2016, according to FCA data. Some of this growth is because advisers have been...
Richard Bradley 21 October 2022
An EU-wide ban on commissions is only a matter of time
“Most clients are happy to pay €1,000 for a smartphone but will never pay half that amount to get financial advice.” “A full ban on commissions would create a huge advice gap.” Again and again we’ve heard these kinds of comments from fund distributors across...
Victor Garcia Priego 30 September 2022
Model portfolio services and fee pressure
Advisers have been squeezing costs in the value chain for the past decade. Their own fees have held up well – after all, they’re the ones in the driving seat, and with direct contact with clients advisers are well-placed to extol the value of their services. But...
Richard Bradley 16 September 2022
Cost, (not) above all else
Advisers put the bulk of their clients’ assets on platforms for a few main reasons: access to multiple tax wrappers as well as better portfolio management and reporting capabilities. However, what lies behind an adviser’s decision to use a particular platform? We...
William Moss 02 September 2022