Staying on track
Platforms have been at the heart of supporting advisers through this transition and at AJ Bell our focus has been on ensuring we offer the products and services that advisers need to service a wide range of client needs.
The addition of our investment options has been a significant part of this, with our low-cost multi-asset funds and managed portfolio service gaining increasing momentum with advisers. More recently we added the Retirement Investment Account, a lower-cost, streamlined pension option to suit clients with lower fund sizes to sit alongside our existing SIPP.
A clear indication of the value platforms now offer is the increase in interest from Private Equity groups. Private Equity tends to follow the money and they clearly see a lot of value in the platform sector which has led to the pick-up in platform consolidation that has been talked about for much of the past ten years.
We have played a small part in this, although ours is not a consolidation play but the continuation of our strategy to offer additional services that enable advisers to service a wider segment of clients.
We acquired the Adalpha business earlier this year to accelerate our plans to build a simplified platform proposition for financial advisers delivered to clients via a mobile and tablet app. It will enable advisers to offer an entirely digital service model for clients who are suited to that form of relationship and advice process, expanding the range of client profiles they can advise and future proofing their business model. All aspects of how the client interacts with their money will be delivered via the app.
Called Touch by AJ Bell, the new platform will sit alongside and complement AJ Bell Investcentre, our existing platform for financial advisers and clients will be able to be held on both platforms. Combined, the platforms will provide solutions for a wide range of client scenarios across all ages, portfolio sizes and investment needs, further helping advisers meet their PROD and client suitability requirements.
Adviser businesses have evolved over the last ten years and will do so for many decades to come as the needs of their clients change. Our platform solutions will always have a focus on good service, comprehensive investment choice and easy to use functionality – packaged together at a competitive price. Touch by AJ Bell is being designed so clients can access the whole advice process via smartphones or tablets, offering a user experience that doesn’t yet exist in the advised platform market.
It’s an exciting development for us and one that I think will have been at the forefront of greater transparency and the move to more mobile-focused services in the adviser platform market when we look back from the 20-year anniversary of IFA Magazine.
About Billy Mackay, Marketing Director at AJ Bell
Billy joined AJ Bell in June 2008, having worked for a major platform provider for over 11 years. He has been involved in financial services for over 33 years in a variety of sales and marketing roles. An Associate of the Pensions Management Institute, his areas of responsibility at AJ Bell include the marketing strategy, development and promotion of AJ Bell’s adviser platform – AJ Bell Investcentre.
