Ashcourt Rowan is excited to become a sponsor of the IFP. There is no doubt in our minds that the IFP, led by chief executive Nick Cann, do a tremendous job in representing the Financial Planning community and we are only too pleased to offer our support to this growing profession.

Our view is: “Perhaps a discretionary mandate is the only way to ensure TCF compliance while servicing large numbers of clients.”

When consolidating clients’ assets the primary justification should be about improved portfolio control. It is not solely about making life easier for the Financial Planner, it is about making sure that the client gets better, more suitable, investment management. Without this, the consolidation process becomes questionable.

Platforms facilitate a means of investment management: they enable a transaction to take place – they don’t do the actual work. As we know, good practice for modern Financial Planners, is to carry out risk profile assessments, asset allocate and apply a standard risk adjusted model portfolio to a client’s assets. If planners fail to do this, then platforms can make this omission painfully obvious.

But even the best intentions can be hard to fulfill. Having researched and decided on the model portfolios it is extremely difficult to keep these consistent across client groups when under an advisory agreement, you need a client’s prior permission before making any fund switches.

Perhaps a discretionary mandate is the only way to ensure TCF compliance while servicing large numbers of clients.

Our experience suggests that the tools used by some platforms to enable the correct investment decision to be made, may have little practical value. Many asset allocation tools are overly complex, fund selection tools overly simplistic, pre-defined models are unworkable in any scale and bulk transaction facilities meaningless unless the adviser has a discretionary mandate. Step by step procedures are difficult to follow and service standards variable.

The key to the Ashcourt Rowan proposition is a comprehensive process which leads to an investment mandate which can be implemented efficiently.

Talk to us about what we can do to help you and your clients?

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