FE fundinfo, a global fund data and technology company, has signed up its 50th managed portfolio provider to its MPS Directory.
Set up in 2015 as ‘FE Transmission’, the directory was established to bring a new level transparency to model portfolio research. It allows advisers to access the underlying data at a holdings level of the models their clients are invested in and allows MPS providers to distribute their portfolios in a controlled way to advisers.
The popularity of the MPS Directory has grown steadily during the last five years and now more than 1,300 adviser firms use the directory regularly. Models from the 50 providers were accessed more than 1.1 million times last year.
With many financial advisers struggling to compare information relating to MPS providers, the directory also addresses some of the common problems that are faced with regard to accurate data and inconsistent naming conventions. Linked to FE fundinfo’s FE Analytics research tool, the directory contains latest pricing data, so advisers accessing the system can chart the performance of the model portfolios up to and including the latest price and run comparisons against other portfolios or benchmarks.
Investment outsourcing and the use of MPS providers is becoming increasingly important for financial advisers as the complexity of running their businesses increases. FE fundinfo’s 2020 Financial Adviser Survey revealed that in 2019, more than 57 per cent of advisers were using a third-party managed portfolio service, up from 50 per cent the previous year. More than a quarter were using more than three providers in their propositions.
Steve Mitchell, head of Proposition at FE fundinfo, says: “Historically there was a general opaqueness surrounding MPS data, compared to the publicly available information held on funds. It was to address this lack of transparency that we created our MPS Directory five years ago. Since then, thousands of advisers and many MPS providers have seen the benefit of our approach and are using the service. We’re delighted to hit the milestone of 50 providers and welcome the new joiners to the directory, meaning advisers have more data than ever before to shape their investment propositions for positive client outcomes.”
