Our ‘best-seller’, The Adviser Platform Guide is a must for any group wanting to understand and keep abreast of UK retail financial services distribution.

• As at Q3 11, total IFA platform assets were £168.02 billion
• On a like-for-like basis from 30 Jun to 30 Sep, adviser platforms shrank by 4.33%.
• We report AUA for AJ Bell’s Sippcentre platform for the first time
• 77% of new adviser business in Q2 11 was still written off-platform
• Pershing have re-launched their Nexus Complete platform services to advisers
• Despite market turmoil, there are now 12 platforms that have AUA greater than £3bn. In August 2010, there were only 10 platforms with over £1bn

• Nine platforms managed positive AUA growth in Q3 2011 in tough market conditions. Elevate and Aviva managed to increase their AUA by over 5% whilst the FTSE 100 experienced a fall of over 13%
• Momentum and price were the two principal drivers of movement on the Platforum Leaderboard
• AXA Elevate and Nucleus topped the overall Platforum Leaderboard, with Skandia coming third
• According to user feedback alone, Nucleus, Novia then Parmenion are the best platforms in the market today
• Nucleus has the highest proportion of advisers regarding it as their primary platform by AUA with 69.6% of their users telling us it’s the primary vehicle. Standard Life also features prominently with 61% claiming it to be the primary platform
• 41% of advisers use model portfolios today; 10.4% use third-party DFMs.
• This is on the rise with greater adoption anticipated over the next 6 months

This market is changing so quickly that we publish quarterly. An annual subscription, which includes four copies of the research, is £4,000+VAT – but only until the end of 2011, so sign up today! Click here for more details.