Platforms in 2012

Great article on the Tria Partners website about trends for investment platforms in 2012

http://www.triapartners.com/triapartners-blogs.php?article=content/Blog-Platforms%20in%202012&type=MjQ=

Industry pressures acknowledged are:

As we all know, the retail platform business model is under pressure from:

• A large and growing self-directed investor segment which is using SMSFs as its preferred vehicle

• Rotation by planners away from managed funds to direct assets (including equities and term deposits)

• Improvements in technology which are allowing planners to rotate away from traditional platforms entirely

and I love the lines to get people thinking like:

'Today’s direct customer may want advice tomorrow. '

'For incumbents, “do-nothing” looks increasingly unattractive, '

and the summary

'2012 needs to be about getting back in the game - regaining lost customers and restoring damaged confidence. There are many strands to this, but delivering quality, low-cost products to key customer segments, through whichever channels they want to buy, and with or without advice, is an important part of that journey. '

With the trends to the offering of direct owned assets, the need for wealth managers to both develop disciplines and tools for managing client portfolios is on the rise. Feel free to call to talk to me about the area.