Financial advice firms with between 6 and 50 advisers are increasingly adopting customised platform models, according to new research.

Half of firms with over £250m in assets under advice have a fully customised platform, according to consultants NextWealth.

The report found that while smaller to mid-sized firms are taking on some degree of customisation, they are not taking on the regulatory responsibilities themselves, preferring for that to remain with platform providers.

Despite the growth in customised platform models, there was no single solution coming on top, with advice firms choosing a wide range of solutions and providers.

Emma Napier, consulting director of NextWealth, said platform choice was becoming an increasingly complex decision.

She said: “Advisers must navigate not only different providers but also varying platform models, adding a new layer of complexity to the selection process. Advice firms now have multiple options, from running a panel of preferred platforms, choosing a DFM that operates a platform, right through to operating their own platform.”

An opinion shared by several of the advisers interviewed by NextWealth was that no platform proposition is perfect.

One adviser said: "Because a platform or a CRM system isn’t necessarily always fit for purpose, you have to then get creative around the edges.

"So that doesn’t mean you’re developing one of those things yourself, it means you have to think about the gaps and what you need to build. We still have the issue of data not flowing freely between providers and platforms. And so we have to manage our data in a different way to overcome that challenge.”

Aegon, Embark, Nucleus and P1 Platform commissioned NextWealth to produce a guide to help advisers with selecting the right platform model to fit their firm. The guide is available to download from the NextWealth website.

NextWealth surveyed 340 financial advisers between June and August 2024 and conducted 19 in-depth interviews with senior advice firm executives in December 2024 and January 2025.