Fidelity to develop shared corporate/retail platform

Fidelity plans to gradually develop a more holistic proposition uniting the retail and corporate parts of its platforms.

Gary Shaughnessy, Fidelity MD of UK DC and retail, says the move would be helpful to the growing number of advisers with client assets spanning both sides of the business.

He says: "The RDR puts the adviser firmly on the same side of the table as the client. In terms of charging by fees, they can look after clients who have as much in client occupational schemes as retail money. The growth of the DC market is rapid and people like ourselves are growing their DC share.

"But the question for us is ‘how can the platform support both these area?' This is especially relevant when you look at the tax changes affecting high earners. They don't want that separation on the platform and they want to be able to move money between occupational and retail parts of the platform."

The move to integrate the corporate and retail sides would be gradual as although the underlying core of the platform is the same, the middle engine and marketing are different. However, fund partner relationships are already established across both areas.

Shaughnessy believes the retirement space generally provides many growth opportunities for FundsNetwork. This could include the addition of more flexible retirement income products as the Government plans to scrap forced annuitisation at 75.

The development of company ISAs could also span both parts of the platform and Shaughnessy is calling for more explicit links between the tax wrappers to help younger savers in particular.

To read the full interview with Gary Shaughnessy see tomorrow's Professional Adviser.