SCORES ON THE DOORS – HOW THE ADVISED PLATFORM MARKET FARED IN 2018
Well, the covers are off and we now have full year 2018 data for the advised platform market. It’s been quite a year – if it was a box set we reckon it would be series 2 of The Wire. It’s been that gripping. You’ll no doubt read lots of stuff about individual company results […]
ENJOY THE FAT OF THE LAND WITH THE TOP CLASS WEDNESDAY UPDATE
It’s touring season, mi compadres, and that means this week’s Update is coming to you from the welcoming, anonymous bosom of yet another hotel; the sort of place where ‘ach, it’s good enough’ is the company mission statement, as is ‘if they want a curry in their room it’ll be twenty five notes and they […]
THE TOP CLASS WEDNESDAY UPDATE IS EXACTLY YOUR CUP OF TEA
Yes indeed, siblings, it’s that time of the week again. More popular than Green Book’s Oscar win, if Spike Lee had to express a preference about his favourite long-term savings and investment-based weekly email, it would totally be this one. And I think we can all agree there’s no finer endorsement than that. Even in […]
ELEVATE DEFLATES ITS PRICING
Let’s go old school for a minute. It’s been simply yonks since I’ve done a pricing blog; back in the day it felt like I did two a week. I imagine it felt worse than that to anyone reading them. Anyway, after a long time of very little change in platform pricing, things are on […]
THE TOP CLASS WEDNESDAY UPDATE – NOW WITH 34% LESS GLUTEN!
In a world where Greggs The Bakers sees its profits rise 9% because of vegan sausage rolls, where the people that regulate advisers can’t work out when the bad advisers they’ve regulated have gone to be regulated advisers somewhere else and left their liabilities behind, and the good ones are buried in a blizzard of […]
SAY I LOVE YOU WITH THE TOP CLASS WEDNESDAY UPDATE
It’s true, siblings. Nothing makes your love light shine brighter than the Top Class Wednesday Update… …but enough of all that. It’s an advisory-themed Update this week. And we’ll give the Valentine’s schtick a rest. There are two stories that have got me thinking about advice. First, it turns out that Lloyds is planning to […]
THE STATE OF OUR WEDNESDAY UPDATE IS TOP CLASS
Yes indeed, with the terrifying gaze of a scornful Nancy Pelosi, the lang cat’s Top Class Wednesday Update is here once again to stare at the back of the financial industry’s carefully coiffed head and launch highly specific investigations, right at your inbox. Three things on my mind that I think are worthy of your […]
MIFID II – HOW? WOW?
MIFID II – HOW? WOW?
Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking part in the latest Paraplanner Howwow; a fun packed hour (no, really) discussing MIFID II costs and charges disclosure with Richard Allum and Benjamin Fabi. If you missed it live you can catch up at your leisure here https://www.crowdcast.io/e/howwow-jan19
If you’ve never seen a Howwow before, you’re missing out. Richard has quietly built a hugely impressive community of geeks professionals who really want to engage in the nitty-gritty detail. The driving purpose of this group is to share best practice and help the industry improve how it goes about things, to provide better customer experiences. I really admire them and always learn a huge amount whenever I’m with them.
Yesterday was no exception. The full hour was devoted to looking at how platforms, but more importantly paraplanners and advisers, are approaching the imminent MIFID II ex-post reporting. If you haven’t seen our research on this already (where have you been!), jump back a week to see what we are talking about and then come back here once you are up to speed. Also, it’s worth noting that Transact has supplied its answers to our research, so we’re now covering 16 platforms. (thanks Transact!).
*STOP THE PRESSES – Big thanks to Fundsnetwork as it has also now supplied answers. We’ll include them asap.*
So, what were the main conclusions from the webinar?
Firstly, the audience gave a big thumbs up to the platforms (that represent the vast majority of the industry) who have helped us compile this research. The steps they are taking to be transparent with their plans is hugely helpful to advisers and paraplanners.
At the top of our wish list sits the need for additional detailed information on the calculation methodologies being used in the various reports. Some providers are using the approach recommended by TISA in their 2017 guidance, however a number appear to be adopting different methodologies. We reckon it would be extremely helpful if platforms could produce a guide for advisers/paraplanners setting out exactly how the figures are sourced and calculated.
These guides would help (but not solve) what is likely to be the biggest problem for paraplanners and advisers. We had several questions along the lines of “what can advisers do if we have a client with assets across a few platforms, direct with a DFM, maybe a bit of EIS on the side?”. The answer is that no-one knows, so it’s likely to be a very difficult exercise to communicate all this stuff consistently and transparently. Good luck.
There was some debate about whether the fact platforms are sending statements directly to the client is enough for advisers to be compliant. Honestly, we don’t really know. However, even if adviser firms are comfortable that is the case, if clients have assets across more than one provider, advisers are almost certainly going to need to do something to meet their own regulatory responsibilities. Remember the whole COBs bit about “clear, fair and not misleading”. That’s still A Thing.
FCA rules in this respect are reasonably clear, however it’s obvious, to us at least, there is a need for good and poor practice examples to be shared amongst the advice community. We would encourage the regulator to do exactly that and would equally encourage platforms and other providers to carry on giving advisers and paraplanners the support they need.
KILL YOUR DARLINGS WITH THE TOP CLASS WEDNESDAY UPDATE
Can it really be Wednesday again? Yes, it can. I’m glad we’ve sorted that out. Anyway, the title of this week’s Update is a quote which has appeared in many places over the years, but most recently from Stephen King’s On Writing (the best copywriter’s textbook I’ve ever read). The quote as King has it […]
NEW YEAR, NEW DISCLOSURE
Like a bad follow up album that no-one really wants, MIFID is back. 12 months ago we had the first wave of action, with transaction fees being exposed for all to see. Whereas these figures were expected costs, investors are about to start receiving statements showing the actual costs paid over the last 12 months, broken down in Imperial Credits of the Realm (£’s & pence), covering advice, platform, asset management, DFM and anyone else who is taking a slice of your investment returns.
We think this is potentially a big thing. For a long time, so called experts have speculated what might happen when investors are told the total cost of ownership. Whatever the answer to this is, we are about to find out. Some investors will be fine with it all. Their advisers have always been clear about costs, and these new statements won’t tell them anything they haven’t seen before. More importantly, these investors value the services they receive from their advisers.
However, if this isn’t the case, then it might be a wake-up call. If investors read these statements and don’t have a decent relationship with their adviser, then they might be prompted to take action. Especially since these statements are being sent out against the backdrop of some pretty choppy markets over the last 12 months.
As a result, we wanted to find out how this is all going to work, and especially what it all means for advisers and paraplanners. 15 platforms have very helpfully responded to our information request, and we are very grateful for the time they took to do so. If your favourite platform isn’t on the list, please ask them nicely if they could supply the information we need, and we’ll update the list accordingly. The research is available in a free handy document, which you can download by clicking the image below (takes you to our publications library where you can add the document to your shopping cart.
So what does it all mean? Here are our top 3 conclusions….
I have some sympathy for the platforms. This is a must do project, with a defined scope and timescale. Having run several of these projects myself I know just how complex they are, and how soul destroying it is to devote loads of time/energy/resource for “just” disclosure. Hate the system, not the player – this isn’t the platforms’ fault
However, for advisers who have client assets with a number of platforms (as the regulator likes you to do), it’s not going to be a great experience. Surprise surprise, everyone is doing things slightly differently, and your clients are going to get statements on different days, with different calculations and products
And as an adviser, for the majority of platforms you will have no involvement in the process. 100% of providers are sending these statements directly to clients themselves, and only a handful of platforms are giving advisers the ability to interrogate the data and/or run their own reports. Some of you will see this as a positive; others won’t. It will be interesting to hear how you feel about it all – let us know in the comments below
Our main conclusion is that advisers and paraplanners need to engage with this detail now. Whatever platform(s) you are using, your clients are about to get these statements landing on their doorstep. We hope this research helps you to plan accordingly.
