Quilter is cutting platform charges for new customers from June and existing customers in Q3 - and introducing tiered adviser charging.

Quilter says the efficiency of its new platform technology is enabling it to reduce its charges and says users should see an average 15% fall in platform charges.

The company is competing against many platforms regularly reducing charges in a fiercely competitive sector.

The reductions mean that clients with between £250,000 and £750,000 on the Quilter platform will see the annual percentage charge fall from 0.25% to 0.2%.

Quilter says a client with £300,000 on the platform should save £750 in charges over five years, while a customer with £600,000 would pay £1,500 less in charges over the same period.

Quilter also has an option to link family accounts to reduce the charge for all family members. It has no additional charges for activities such as pension drawdown.

Source: Quilter

Quilter has also upgraded its treasury function over recent months to better actively manage cash holdings and improve rates. Quilter says it will retain some of the interest on cash to help pay for the charge reductions which are also funded by tech improvements.

The investment firm says it is also responding to demand from advisers for more flexible ways to set client fees and will launch tiered adviser charging this summer. This will allow advisers to more easily tailor charges for different customer segments.

Advisers will be able to add their own tiered charging models with up to 11 tiers on Quilter’s platform, which they can then apply to one or more clients. The effective rate for each customer will be clearly displayed on the platform and disclosed in documentation.

Steven Levin, chief executive of Quilter, said: “Since launching our new platform technology in 2021 it has always been our intention to share our success with customers as we realise efficiencies as more clients and advisers transact online.

“Our new approach to cash interest rates has allowed us to make a more meaningful price reduction. Our platform cash account is not intended to be a home for long-term savings and our automated cash management feature ensures that platform cash is kept to a minimum. Our proposition is aimed at customers that want to predominantly invest in funds for the long term, and we have a range of money market funds should customers need to hold more cash.

“The ability to build and maintain tiered adviser charging is not widely available within the platform market. This functionality will become essential for advisers that have segmented their client base and are tailoring their advice fees in response to the Consumer Duty.”

Mr Levin said further platform developments were planned for this year.

Quilter oversees £101.9 billion in customer investments (as at 31 March). It has two main brands: Quilter and Quilter Cheviot. Quilter includes the Financial Planning businesses, Quilter Financial Planning, the Quilter investment platform and Quilter Investors, the multi-asset investment solutions business. Quilter Cheviot includes the discretionary fund management business, Quilter Cheviot, together with Quilter Private Client Advisers.