Difference and Differentiation: What next for investment platforms? - Paper - Page 7
If we take three broad segments for platform
ownership/parentage, then maybe we see:
• Asset Manager Platforms | a platform operating
under the brand of, or entirely owned by an asset
manager/fund provider. I might think of Fidelity,
you might think of Abrdn.
• Life Company Platforms | a platform operating
under the brand of, or entirely owned by a life &
pension provider. I might think of Aviva, you might
think of Aegon.
• Wrap Platforms | a platform operating with no
material connection to an asset manager or a life
company. I might think of Transact, you might think
of Nucleus.
Not an exact science, and plenty of space for
disagreement as to who fits into which bucket, but a
pragmatic view across the sector. If we look at 2022
AUA numbers from Fundscape, then just over 40% of
platform AUA is sitting on ‘wrap’ platforms, see Figure
2, admittedly bolstered by the mighty Hargreaves
Lansdown, who represent over 10% of the sector AUA,
and over half that counted as execution only.
If we look back over the last decade, Figure 3, we
see that the ‘wrap’ share of market has been eroded
from a high of 60% a decade ago and accelerated
over the last 5 years where firms have changed hands,
such as Abrdn picking up Interactive Investor and
Elevate previously.
2022 Platform AuA by parentage
£199.22 bn
£329.11 bn
£430.28 bn
LifeCo
Wrap Platform
Asset Manager
Figure 2: Proportion of AUA by Parentage
AuA growth by parentage
£1,200
£1,000
Billions
£800
£600
£400
£200
£0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
LifeCo
Wrap Platform
Asset Manager
Figure 3: Growth of AUA by Parentage
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