Mark Polson: Why direct platforms are not advisers' enemy

Direct platforms - all the rage since the start of the year - need not be seen as the enemy by advisers

Direct platforms - all the rage since the start of the year - need not be seen as the enemy by advisers. In fact, quite the contrary, writes Mark Polson...

I've been doing lots of analysis of direct platforms recently. Well, it beats having to interact with real people. As I've been burfling around, checking out pricing, 'super clean' fund deals and all the rest of it, I've found a great deal of interest from advisers. This interest falls into two camps. The first camp is a ‘know your enemy' camp. Advisers holed out here see every direct client as a loss to them, and the direct platforms as a big sort of platformy monster thing which is only interested in eating their lunch. They are often a bit angry. The second camp is a bit more measu...