What your adviser looks for in an investment platform
Catherine Alexander
Partner
An investment platform, also be known as a fund supermarket, offers a single place to search and invest in shares and investment funds. It is essentially a provider that sits between the portfolio holdings and the investors looking to purchase them. The platform selects which investments it will have available, so no two platforms are the same. They usually offer share accounts and trading accounts, and the opportunity for you to manage investments in wrappers such as stocks and shares ISAs, Lifetime ISAs, Junior ISAs and self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs).
Where platforms are adopted by your adviser, this is an additional tool they use in managing and overseeing your portfolio. The platform enables advisers to implement your financial planning strategies, confident that this is being done for you in a compliant manner which adheres to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidelines. It also frees up time from manual processes so that your adviser can deliver better client outcomes.
When your adviser looks at the platforms they will use (this may be a single platform or a combination of platforms) they will be looking at all of the following areas, which focus on client outcomes rather than ease of use for the adviser:
The track record and technical and financial robustness of the platform
The financial structure and objectives of the underlying business
The design and delivery of the service proposition
The operation of adviser charging and fit with current and expected policy
The design and delivery of the investment proposition and its implementation with clients
Client-facing services and communications provided by the platform
The attitude towards fund and platform charges
The ease of switching into and out of other platforms
Your adviser may use a few different platforms depending on the client, for example, if you have a modest portfolio you would not want any gains made to be erroded by high trading fees and ongoing costs. Additionally, every platform is subject to different fee and charging structure, some will charge per trade, some by flat fee, others on what investments you are selling, and finally some will charge you a percentage of your total portfolio value. It is important that your adviser understands your specific needs and circumstances in order to select the right proposition for you.
We hope that this has been useful. If you have any questions or would like to speak to an adviser, please contact our team at anytime.
The value of investments and the income derived from them may go down as well as up.
