Founded in 2007, Sense offers a range of services to its members.
The partnership means The Lang Cat will produce a bespoke edition of its quarterly platform market scorecard. This will incorporate a full pricing analysis of special terms that Sense members may have with any chosen platform provider.
Heatmaps will also be created to show how much clients of Sense members will pay across a range of platform pricing points.
The Lang Cat will also provide a full analysis of functionality and latest market developments and run a series of webinars for members.
Mark Polson, principal at The Lang Cat, said: “We’ve passed the point now where it’s tenable for any platform to suggest that it’s anything other than a fundamental part of what helps advisers create the right outcomes for clients”.
Shaping services
As restricted advice propositions have grown in popularity, it’s clear that platforms fundamentally shape the services advisers offer, he said.
“Sadly, it’s still far too time consuming for advisers to really get to grips with what each platform’s advantages and drawbacks are. Most can only be experienced; not described unless you have the time to really dig in,” Polson said.
James Wetherall, director of IFA firm Wetherall’s, said a platform due diligence report would be a great resource for the industry.
Industry disruption
The latest Lang Cat quarterly Platform Market Scorecard, released last month, estimated that 90% of advised platform assets are being subject to some major form of business disruption, primarily re-platforming and ownership change.
“In May of this year alone, tens of billions of pounds will be re-platformed as the Aegon/Cofunds and Ascentric exercises are planned to complete,” it said.
