Granular transaction data, firm-level MI, and consistent formatting remain the most prominent gaps in data delivery by platforms and pension providers, according to NextWealth’s Data Openness Report 2026.
These are the same problems identified in 2025 research. Financial advice firms are now turning to third party aggregators to bridge the gap on the data they need, the 2026 findings show.
Across key metrics of data availability, quality, timeliness, and delivery and access, 61% of firms surveyed are only ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the data platforms deliver on average. For pension providers it is 54%.
“When over half of advisers are only ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the data delivered, it speaks to the data being tolerated, not celebrated. In order to change that, the answer lies in better understanding how advisers intend to use the data – the data requirements for regulatory compliance and evidence, business management and growth, client experience, operational efficiency are all very different,” says report author, Chanelle Paynter.
Paynter adds that their findings show data openness is no longer just a supply question: “Alongside availability, advisers are asking whether data is usable, consistent, and fit for the workflows they are building.”
The NextWealth research highlights that firms are no longer waiting for platforms and pension providers to act. They are building data infrastructure and adopting aggregation services. The findings additionally show that the largest and fastest-growing firms now treat data capability as a non-negotiable in platform selection. For them, this is no longer a preference it is a must-have – data provision is influencing platform panel decisions, consolidation shortlists, and new business flows, according to NextWealth.
Transaction data – the universally unbridged gap
The gap in delivering transaction data was a consistent complaint. It was raised in every interview NextWealth conducted.
A firm asking for transaction data to evidence Consumer Duty compliance has a different need from one asking for the same data to build a real-time management information dashboard for private equity investors. Platforms and pension providers need to understand the use case can and act to design better solutions, says NextWealth.
Regulatory compliance and evidence
Consumer Duty has raised the bar on what firms must demonstrate. Advisers need to show a client’s portfolio remains appropriate on an ongoing basis. Not just once a year. That requires transaction data flowing into systems so the firm always has a current picture for every client.
Beyond individual client monitoring, firms need historical, client-level data to evidence review coverage, satisfy FCA look-back expectations and identify risks across acquired books. For consolidators, gaps in the data of firms they acquire is not an operational inconvenience, it is a compliance risk.
Business management and growth
Advice firms want centralised MI dashboards giving management real-time visibility of key metrics: assets under advice, net new business, adviser productivity, and flows into in-house products.
The direction is from ad hoc data requests to self-serve environments but getting the underlying data into a usable state remains the barrier.
Client experience
The shift from an annual review cycle to a continuous, always-on service model is reshaping what firms need from data. Clients expect portfolio valuation and performance information on an ongoing basis.
Operational efficiency
Firms are spending resource manually collecting, reconciling, and cleaning data that should arrive ready to use.
The NextWealth findings show that where transaction data is being provided, inconsistent labelling, formatting, and accuracy problems undermine its usability.
“Expanding the volume of data shared is clearly still needed but on its own it is not enough. How that data is labelled, structured and interpreted matters as much as whether it is provided at all. A transaction feed that requires weeks of manual cleaning before it can be used is not necessarily materially better than no feed at all,” says Paynter.
“The need is pressing and its growing. Advice firms need data to do their jobs. They need it to evidence ongoing suitability to clients, to satisfy regulators, to give PE investors the MI they require, and to build towards the technology-enabled operating models that will define the next generation of advice businesses. What firms are asking for is not complex. It’s broader data such as transaction data, delivered consistently, in a format they can actually use. Where platforms and providers fall short of that, firms are using aggregators to bridge the gap,” says Paynter.
“These gaps are feeding directly into commercial decisions. Data capability is becoming a deciding factor in who makes it onto panels. The gap between what platforms and providers deliver and what advice firms need remains too wide for advice firms to bridge alone, the aggregation layer that has grown up around this market is evidence of that.”
“When we asked firms what good looks like, the answer was the same across every conversation: the same data types, in the same format, regardless of the platform or provider. Whether that requires industry standards or individual commitment is a question the market will need to answer.”
For further information, visit the NextWealth report webpage.
