Alliance Trust Savings cautions against advisers delaying platform review

This is despite delays to the publication of the long-awaited platform consultation paper and rumours circulating that new FSA platform fund information requirements will not apply from 31 December 2012.

The impact of these delays and talk of a ‘second RDR' could result in IFAs taking their foot off the pedal when making changes to their business model ahead of RDR.

However, this could be problematic as the FSA has warned against single platform use and it is still expected to announce that IFAs must declare whether or not they intend to be independent or restricted advisers by 31 December 2012assuming RDR in some form goes ahead.

Patrick Mill, Sales and Distribution Director at Alliance Trust Savings, commented:

"There is a real danger that IFAs delay looking at their platform strategy in relation to the move away from single platform use, due to rumours around delays in the RDR.

"The FSA is unlikely to relax their concerns over single platform use and this issue will not change because of any delay to RDR, as the two issues are not connected.

"The suitability of any platform will depend upon the client's particular circumstances and requirements. Selecting a range of platforms that complement each other rather than being identical to each other would seem wise. 

"At Alliance Trust Savings, we are quite clear that our proposition with open architecture on investment trusts and flat fixed rate charges makes our platform very complementary to most advisers' primary platforms.

"We know clearly what target market our proposition suits and agree with the FSA that it is unlikely that a client's interests could be best served by IFAs using just one platform.

"The FSA clearly has concerns that advisers who have adopted a single platform strategy may struggle to justify maintaining their ‘independent status' going forward and we suggest that advisers do not delay the process of reviewing their platform strategy due to speculation around delays to RDR."