The number of financial planners prepared to use three or more master trust or wrap platforms has more than doubled over the past year — and it could be a newer class of low-cost platform providers who are the big winners.
A new survey has found that 41 per cent of financial planners are now using three or more platforms, more than twice the 19 per cent who were prepared to do so just 12 months ago.
The survey, conducted by Assirt and released exclusively to Money Management, was based on the responses of 765 financial planners chosen at random from around the country.
It found just a third of advisers use one platform exclusively.
The figures are a dramatic turnaround from just two years ago, when the Assirt survey found planners used an average of only 1.6 platforms.
When asked in this year’s poling which platforms they used, Colonial’s FirstChoice — the first of the newer class of low-cost master trusts to hit the market — was the most popular.
This was backed by official fund inflow figures released last week, which found the Colonial First State group took in $1.2 billion into its platforms in the June quarter, more than any other group.
However, Vanessa McMahon, who conducted the survey on behalf of Assirt, says other newer platform providers were also making inroads, with Perpetual’s WealthFocus, ING’s OneAnswer and Skandia’s master trust offering all in the top 10 in terms of popularity.
Other groups, including AXA and Credit Suisse Asset Management, have launched their own low-cost platforms over recent weeks.
“What has been really interesting to observe is the dramatic uptake of new platforms. Those that have been launched in the last year or two have significantly eaten into the market share of some of the older platforms,” McMahon says.
Rob Swanton, director of Melbourne-based independent financial planning group Swanton & Davidson, says his advisers use three platforms — Colonial FirstChoice, Asgard and IOOF.
He says in the past, most independent groups had one platform, but with the introduction of new and more cost effective products, a multiple platform strategy had become easier to employ.
Using more than one platform was also a key differentiator for independent planners.
“For an independent group like ours, it is important to be seen to be non-aligned,” Swanton says.
