FUTURE TRENDS
The outlook for the platform market appears positive as money continues pouring into both legacy products and fresh offerings.
Warren says the industry needs to watch out for the key trends that have emerged “in response to a post-GFC investment climate”.
“A lot of investors are still not very confident and you can sit around and wait, or as a wealth provider you can think, ‘What can we bring to the table to assist?’
“The products that have been in this space, typically capital guarantee-type products, still tend to look expensive and inflexible,” she says.
“Interestingly, as the industry has developed and wanted to increase its level of professionalism…one of the worst things you could ever do in that context is to push products.
“I understand the reasons for that; however, I’m wondering now whether we should be looking more at product.
“Twenty years ago, everything was new. Now that it’s more stable, it’s time to go back and help advisers spend more time looking at the innovation that’s happening in the product space.”
She says clients “should be able to rely on the integrity of the system, and I don’t think there’s anyone out there who’s not delivering a good proposition”.
According to Clancy, platforms need to constantly evaluate the changing demands of advisers and clients.
“If we were to look at the functionality of platforms from a decade ago to now, there’s a lot more direct share trading capability sitting inside platforms than there was 10, five or even two years ago.
“This will be a trend that will continue into the future,” he says.
“And there’ll be more high-net-worth customers and investors who will want that direct share capability. For them, it’s important to have a lot of choice, flexibility and control and [to be able to] exercise that.
“Platforms have a great track record of evolving. I’m very sure the future is bright.”
