Ten leading platform commentators were locked in a room last week to debate the future of the market. In the first of a three-part special in IFAonline, the team revisited platforms’ original objectives and asked: Is their influence now spreading too far?

What is the role of a platform? This was the thought-provoking opening question at a roundtable event hosted by AT8 Group and Capita last week.

Paul Boston, sales and marketing director at Novia, said their core role was simple: Investment administration – getting client’s money invested and getting that money back for them. However, he was keen to point out that there was a subtle addition to his assertion, which was to help an adviser deliver an enhanced proposition in a way that costs the firm (and the clients) less.

Consumer benefits

As the group continued to discuss the benefits of platforms, the focus turned to settle on the benefits to the consumer. A single view of assets, transparency, clarity and fund choice were all benefits listed by the attendees.

Nucleus’s Barry Neilson said: “For typical clients over a period of time, particularly in the way the industry has operated in the past, they will accumulate a number of different holdings and products in various places. In turn, the diversity provides complicated income streams and investment holding statements. By aggregating the holding in a single place there is a real opportunity for advisers to enhance the portfolio performance against client objectives.”

An interesting challenge was then put forward by Graham Bentley, head of proposition at Skandia: If aliens were to abduct all IFAs and clients were left paying for the services of a platform, would they feel they were getting value for money? His contention was that if the value they were getting was purely about aggregation, this would not be sufficient. He added he believed platforms were evolving to enrich the adviser and client experience.

Aggregation and execution

While this view was shared by some, John Porteous, of RSM Tenon, pointed out an extra scenario he believed would help platforms survive – a focus on aggregation and execution, or going back to the custodial functions for which platforms were originally aimed. What was clear, though, was that currently many platforms are stuck somewhere in the middle.

An analogy of food retailers was raised by Ray Chinn, head of pensions at LV=. He pointed out there was room on the shelves at Tesco supermarkets for both premium and cheaper brands. In the same way, he said a distributor should be able to offer a service focused on cost or an enhanced service on a platform.