To add to the ever increasing temperature in the debate about the future of platform offerings in their current form, Financial Simplicity believes that technology-based offers have now matured to a state where wealth management practices can partner with some key suppliers to create ‘off-platform’ operating environments that allow replication of, or even enhancements over traditional platform efficiencies.
“We are finding that practices are increasingly looking to move beyond custodial platforms in order to retain their primary client relationship, yet retain or enhance the convenience and functionality of platform environments. There is a maze of new technology enabled providers out there doing different things and naturally it can be very confusing to many. With Financial Simplicity’s experience in helping firms develop portfolio based propositions, Financial Simplicity has been fielding a lot of queries from firms looking to compare and contrast suppliers and form complete solutions”, says Stuart Holdsworth, CEO of Financial Simplicity.
Stuart explains that Financial Simplicity clients are mostly independent firms and so generally have quite unique businesses around the views and skills of the principal – “hence our approach and methodology is to ‘coach’ wealth businesses based on their client servicing strategy and vision rather than a prescriptive model. This process helps determine operating model blueprints based on a combination of technology systems and other industry components that can best deliver their unique proposition with leverage and scale. Being able to deliver this means that we have already developed a number of relationships with like-minded suppliers including brokers, research houses, administrators and other technology firms”.
While this may seem a new and unique approach to helping wealth advising firms better reposition their businesses in the post-FoFA environment, Financial Simplicity’s Head of Sales and Marketing, Ray Kan, says “We already have years of experience helping wealth management firms take their vision to operating reality – from development of proposition, to the configuration of systems and integration with new or existing technology and service providers. This is actually a core capability for us”.
