80% of investment directions think RDR will have positive impact

Of the audience polled, 73% of directors believed the longer-term impact of RDR on the investment company sector will be slightly positive, with 7% considering the impact will be very positive. Another 9% were neutral and 11% polled believed the impact will be negative.

Nearly two thirds (65%) of directors believe that the largest and most liquid investment companies will be the most likely beneficiaries of RDR over the longer term. But 18% of directors polled believe that the specialist / alternative sectors will benefit most, and 10% believe generalist investment companies will gain most from the changes. Another 5% of those polled believed the benefits of RDR will be spread evenly across the sector, and only 2% believed VCTs are most likely to benefit.

Nearly half of the directors (45%) believe that most of the demand arising from RDR will come from wealth managers and advisers outsourcing portfolio management. A further 25% of directors believe demand will come from self-directed private investors, 24% think that demand would be from advisers who are directly managing their client portfolios and only 6% consider the source of the demand will be evenly spread.

Ian Sayers, Director General, Association of Investment Companies said:

"We are positive about the impact that RDR will have on the investment company sector but of course it's going to take time. Given the diversity of the sector, it is not surprising that there are a range of views on the impact and where demand will come from.

"The AIC has trained over 1,400 advisers in the last eighteen months and the feedback we've received is that advisers are not just interested in the large liquid generalists.  We've seen a fair amount of interest in these generalist companies but advisers are also interested in the more specialist alternative asset classes like private equity, property and infrastructure.  Advisers are aware that they need to demonstrate value to their clients and these alternative asset classes are a way of doing this."