Theory is far ahead of practice

Business development

There is £2,000bn of privately owned assets in the UK that could be consolidated into wrap accounts but no platform has cracked the problem of transferring the bulk of this money

Despite being the subject of so many column inches, no single definition of wrap accounts has emerged. This is partly because the UK is subtly different to other markets, such as the US and Australia, where adviser usage of wrap is widespread, therefore some definitions simply do not translate. It may also be because 'wrap' is now a fashion label that is conveniently applied to widely varying propositions. However, I believe there are six defining elements to a true wrap platform, as follows: • A range of allowable assets, including mutual funds, investment trusts, equities, fixed income s...