A growing trend in the platform is how to look after individuals who have been orphaned by their advisers, particularly for superannuation trustees trying to meet member interests, according to Investment Trends.
Earlier this year, research house Investment Trends released its annual platform report which crowned HUB24 as the top platform for the third consecutive year. The firm’s 2024 Platform Competitive Analysis and Benchmarking Report statistically analyses how Australia’s platforms are driving innovation and servicing the evolving needs of financial advisers and their clients.
On a subsequent webinar, it explored some key themes it had identified during the research of the report, one of which was the handling of orphaned and unadvised clients.
Paul McGivern, finance and research director at Investment Trends, said: “A confluence of factors has accelerated the growth of previously advised clients, many of whom retain platform-held assets. In response, platforms are implementing strategies to re-engage these orphaned clients.
“It has become too big of an issue for them to ignore, so they are actively working to improve the functionality for these unadvised clients.
“There has been a precipitous decline in the number of advised clients and a concentration in the number of clients that advisers are serving. They are sitting there as legacy issues of unadvised clients on these platforms.”
The number of unadvised clients has risen by 5.1 million since 2013, while the number of clients that advisers are actively serving fell from 104 last year to 84 this year, according to Investment Trends’ data. Wealth Data research shows the number of advisers fell by 145 advisers in 2024 and 182 in the previous year.
Services available on platforms to previously advised clients include the ability to view and upload documents, online access to the platform, participate in corporate actions, educational resources and transaction capabilities with Netwealth, North, BT Panorama, HUB24 and Macquarie all praised for their services.
In the case of BT Panorama, Netwealth and Colonial First State, they also offer a low or zero guidance offering for these clients.
“They are definitely focused on this area and making meaningful functionality available to these clients,” he concluded.
Commenting further, Eric Blewitt, chief executive at Investment Trends, referenced the obligations of superannuation funds to look after its members who may be on these platforms.
He said: “There are a reduced number of advised clients which is due to a number of factors. Specifically, regarding superannuation, they may have been introduced to the platform via an adviser, but the superannuation trustee has an obligation to act in the members’ best interest which still applies.
“Given the increasing number of orphaned clients, it doesn’t negate the responsibility of the super trustee and a lot of them do see it as their obligation to do so. Rather than saying, ‘We don’t want you anymore’, they are looking to support them and provide support to meet retirement income obligations.”
