Standard Life has reported an increase in excess of 30 per cent of adviser firms investing client money in discretionary manager portfolios during 2017.
This is the greatest increase in advisers accessing discretionary portfolios since the Investment Hub launched in 2014 and has contributed to the 75 per cent growth in AUA on the Hub, which has reached GBP6 billion in less than four years.
The Investment Hub supports both in house and open market discretionary services and enables multi-goal investment strategies ideal for clients entering retirement. Discretionary managers benefit from automated rebalancing algorithms, full COBs/MiFID compliant reporting and a choice of more than 5,000 funds with direct market access for equities, bonds, investment trusts and ETFs.
Advisers seeking access to open market discretionary services can access more than 90 discretionary managers offering traditional active, passive, target return and blended strategies at a range of price points. Multiple discretionary managers/portfolios can be deployed for a single client and discretionary portfolios can be combined with advisory investment strategies and multi-asset funds, if required.
David Tiller, Head of Adviser and Wealth Manager Propositions, Standard Life, says: “The Investment Hub represents the next generation of investment proposition enablement for advisers and their clients. It offers good value access to investment expertise, while enabling advisers to easily and seamlessly exploit the skills of multiple managers in a targeted manner. On top of this, the Hub offers the highest standards of regulatory governance and is completely open and transparent, giving advisers absolute control of their client proposition.
“I believe the success of the Investment Hub is an unprecedented achievement that truly underlines what can happen when businesses across the value chain work together. The Hub demonstrates the value fintech offers the market today. By using technology to bring the platform, adviser and discretionary managers together we get a really efficient model that everyone benefits from.
“We’re also really excited about where we go next. Our next generation developments for the Investment Hub will be out later this year, offering the ability to customise portfolios in a way that will redefine the term ‘bespoke’. Advisers will be able to establish investment mandates that are targeted against the individual requirements of their clients without the premium normally associated with type of portfolio tailoring. What was once the preserve of the very high net worth will be open to all advisers’ clients.”
