Richard Denning, managing director of M&G Wealth Platform

Q: What did you put in place over the past 12 months to help advisers?

A: All of our activity this year, and indeed ongoing, is about building a platform that is robust, dependable and entirely consistent every time you use it. In the background, our new IT infrastructure and agile ways of working means we can deliver faster, regular improvements that really add value and enhance the experience for advisers and customers. 

We’ve invested heavily in digitising our key processes, including the introduction of DocuSign e-signature software and an online digital first Sipp. Users can also action a sale and complete any linked withdrawals as part of a single, straight-through online process. Transfers out are now automated too, meaning faster payments to clients and time saved for advisers.

Great technology is vital, but so are the people that support advisers. We’ve quadrupled the size of our adoption team and invested in cloud-based telephony and CRM systems, which means firms can get the support they need to ensure the platform is driving real benefits for their business.

Finally, we have focused on improving service standards and quality and we are now processing work more accurately and more quickly. 

Q: Why is it important to support intermediary distribution?

A: At M&G, we believe in the power of advice to enable people to grow and protect their money. That’s why the M&G Wealth Platform is designed to help advisers build and run successful businesses, and why we have invested heavily to deliver a continuous programme of improvements.  

Our ambition is to provide one of the industry’s best platform experiences for both advisers and customers.

We listen to advisers and develop our platform with their needs in mind, providing choice and value to support a wide range of business and client objectives.

Q: How have you helped advisers with challenges such as rising costs, hybrid working, etc?

A: M&G Wealth Platform has adapted incredibly quickly to new hybrid working practices. All of our staff are equipped to work remotely with laptops and video technology to ensure we deliver outstanding support via interactive communication with our users.

We have also introduced a state-of-the-art telephony system to manage calls more effectively.

In terms of our transparent charging structure, we operate a tiered, all-inclusive minimum charge of £15 per month, facilitating easy total charge calculations for advisers and customers.

Ongoing charges are 0.30% on the first £1m, 0.10% from £1m to £3m and 0.06% between £3m and £5m (terms available on request over £5m). There are no additional dealing, model, product wrapper (in-house) or exit/transfer charges.

We also support intergenerational financial planning, where customers can consolidate their family wealth and benefit from reduced charges.

Q: What are you planning to do over the next 12 months?

A: We’re taking new business processing online for our core wrappers, which will include the introduction of drip feed drawdown as part of our retirement proposition. 

Behind the scenes, we will continue to optimise our systems and processes to ensure excellent, resilient service. Ultimately, we want to be the leading platform for back office integration, so one of the big investments will be the creation of a digital hub, allowing our platform to plug into any adviser back office software system.

That means paraplanners will be able to set up new business, conduct fund switches and other platform tasks directly through whatever back office software their firm chooses to use.

Firms will also be able to take data feeds for their customer portals directly from M&G Wealth Platform without the need for any additional file uploading.