No victims, only participants in this price war

I’ve been banging on a bit on twitter recently about not being in favour of the Great Direct Platform Price War. However, thinking more about it, I’ve come to the conclusion that the actual price war is fine. It’s the narrative in the media that is the problem. For me, a narrow focus on price […]

No victims, only participants in this price war

I’ve been banging on a bit on twitter recently about not being in favour of the Great Direct Platform Price War. However, thinking more about it, I’ve come to the conclusion that the actual price war is fine. It’s the narrative in the media that is the problem. For me, a narrow focus on price […]

Strawberry, Clubfinance and Close Bros to the diary room

Nothing stands still for long in the platform market, and if you’ve read our ramblings here and in the national meejah then you’ll remember that we said we thought there would be some changes from the published charge sheet. We’ve seen HL do a reverse ferret on the investment trust thing, and we’re also playing […]

Strawberry, Clubfinance and Close Bros to the diary room

Nothing stands still for long in the platform market, and if you’ve read our ramblings here and in the national meejah then you’ll remember that we said we thought there would be some changes from the published charge sheet. We’ve seen HL do a reverse ferret on the investment trust thing, and we’re also playing […]

Back for more – Hargreaves Lansdown, Part The Second

That’s been quite a day. Reaction to HL’s announcement has been pretty mixed – more than I thought it would have been. Hater of the day prize goes to Dan Hyde in the super soaraway Torygraph with this piece – “Why investors should leave Hargreaves Lansdown“. Others were a bit more measured, and for once […]

Architaxa takes it up a notch and a surprising admission

Part of being independent is having the freedom to say what you think, even when it’s not popular or doesn’t do you very much good. This normally translates to having a pop at stuck-in-the-past lifecos if you’re me, as the long and growing list of folk who would rather have endless Miley Cyrus videos beamed […]

What can you get for £225m?

So Citywire report today that between them AXA, Standard Life and Old Mutual (the parent of Skandia) have spent £225m injecting capital into loss-making platforms. Standard lead the pack with a £116m injection to cover a £130m loss (2007-2009), AXA chipped in £47m or so to cover losses in 08/09 and Old Mutual ponied up […]

What can you get for £225m?

So Citywire report today that between them AXA, Standard Life and Old Mutual (the parent of Skandia) have spent £225m injecting capital into loss-making platforms. Standard lead the pack with a £116m injection to cover a £130m loss (2007-2009), AXA chipped in £47m or so to cover losses in 08/09 and Old Mutual ponied up […]

All your rebate are belong to us (3 wishes for the FSA platform paper)

This post was originally going to be a wishlist for the FSA’s platforms paper, expected later this week. But in the last 48 hours a couple of interesting things about rebates and margins have popped up that bear a wee bit of investigating. First up, a rumour hit Citywire that FSA will ban rebates being […]

All your rebate are belong to us (3 wishes for the FSA platform paper)

This post was originally going to be a wishlist for the FSA’s platforms paper, expected later this week. But in the last 48 hours a couple of interesting things about rebates and margins have popped up that bear a wee bit of investigating. First up, a rumour hit Citywire that FSA will ban rebates being […]

Impact of poor service

/ White papers

The Impact of Poor Service

We provided the research for a report, in conjunction with Parmenion, which reveals how far short of expectations many adviser platforms are falling. The research found that over the last 12 months, 88% of advisers needed to apologise to at least one of their clients on behalf of a platform, and that poor service delivery from platforms impacts 91% of advisers every day.

Impact of poor service

/ White papers

The Impact of Poor Platform Service

We provided the research for a report, in conjunction with Parmenion, which reveals how far short of expectations many adviser platforms are falling. The research found that over the last 12 months, 88% of advisers needed to apologise to at least one of their clients on behalf of a platform, and that poor service delivery from platforms impacts 91% of advisers every day.

/ White papers

Answering the Call

Service means a lot of things to a lot of different people. It’s so subjective it can be hard to put your finger on. This paper aims to challenge the status quo and inertia that’s built up in the sector for many years.