Steer clear of complex charging structures

The platform market has arguably been the most important development in relation to the distribution in financial products in the past decade, and if recent research is a reliable indicator of future trends, platforms will continue to be a fundamental part of the market.

A study by CWC Research shows platforms account for 35% of the revenue of intermediary businesses. This is clearly an average figure based on the representative sample of adviser businesses, ranging from large national firms to smaller independent companies, but it shows there has been a steady rise in usage. Logic would suggest with the arrival of RDR and ahead of the introduction of personal accounts, platforms are integral to the development of a fee-based remuneration system. However, news Cofunds, which along with other ‘big three’ platforms Fidelity FundsNetwork and Skandia, is ...