FASA 2022
Platforms

It would have been difficult for 2022 to match the level of platform acquisition activity seen in 2021. And indeed this year was a little quieter on that front.

But this year saw the platform market facing a different conundrum: that of extreme market volatility.

The surge in business seen during the pandemic is now a thing of the past and, according to the Lang Cat, assets were down by £54bn (just over 9 per cent) and sales were down too, with investors perhaps deciding to sit out for a while.

This means those platforms that have done a better job of navigating advisers and their clients through these choppy seas will have been rewarded.

Sarah Lyons, chief marketing officer at Parmenion, says: “It’s been a challenging year for all of us – the ongoing economic and political crises have caused significant volatility, causing customers to retrench and advisers to spend their time looking after their clients. 

“Here at Parmenion we have maintained our regular events schedule, making sure we reflected our market environment in our webinars every six weeks to help [advisers] help their clients.”

She says that during the volatility advisers were able to speak to someone from Parmenion within 20 seconds more than 90 per cent of the time.

In terms of service, the trends accelerated by the pandemic have remained at the fore, including increasing digital capabilities.

Richard Denning, chief executive of M&G Wealth Platform, says: “Advisers tell me regularly that high on their agenda in choosing a platform service to partner with is security of ownership and the adoption of state-of-the-art technology.

“Advisers keep telling us they want digital, paper-free processes, good consistent service and ultimately great experiences for their clients.

“We’re listening and automating as many key journeys as possible to be more seamless and improve user experience – building state-of-the-art technology and IT infrastructure is a huge enabler to achieve this.”

Ant Scammell, adviser and client services director at Quilter, says his company is also investing heavily in technology, with Quilter now offering access to the widest choice of digital signature providers.

But he also highlights the importance of helping clients through the market volatility.

Scammell says: “In a challenging year for markets, which often prompts higher client calls, we’re pleased to have maintained our ‘first call resolution rate’ at consistently above 90 per cent.”

Phil Bungey, chief executive of Advance by Embark, also emphasises the importance of connecting with advisers.

He says: “We believe in connecting with our clients personally, whether via the call centre or at senior management level, and are always happy to speak to them to learn what they need.”

Of course speaking to people quickly is only useful if they are the right people and during 2022, Aviva focused on making sure it was attracting the best people to offer service to advisers.

Al Ward, head of Aviva’s adviser platform, says: “This hasn’t been easy, especially in a Covid environment where the old norms have changed and, particularly in operations, applicants have been able to pick and choose employers from across the UK. 

“We addressed this by changing our recruitment approach, enabling us to attract high quality people to add to our team, and continue to deliver our service to a high level. We continue to recruit to make sure we continue to deliver.”

damian.fantato@ft.com