B2B portal transactions soar in run-up to RDR

Portals are seeing strong growth in transactions as they realign their roles to support distributors’ ecommerce programmes in the run up to the RDR, says AT8 Group.

A survey carried out by the technology consultancy shows the market continues to be dominated by Exweb from 1st - The Exchange, which produced 14.2m quotations in November, or 61% of all quotations being run via portals.

However, Assureweb and Webline are also seeing strong growth, with just under 4m and 4.5m quotes respectively in November.

New entrant to the market True Potential boasts by far the highest conversion of quotations to electronic applications at 3%. Its nearest competitor's rate stands at just ¼%.

But True Potential's 1½% market share of quotations - representing 340,000 quotes during the month - is low.

"The market is undergoing a huge amount of change and as we approach 2012 we are seeing a realignment of the portals' role," says AT8 director Nigel Smith. "By embedding their functions within full electronic sales process, we are seeing both quotation and application volumes rise.

Mark Loosmore of AT8 Group writes weekly technology reviews for our sister title Professional Adviser.