Six key issues for platforms from Cofunds
By International Adviser, 19 Aug 15
David Hobbs, chief executive of Cofunds, discusses key issues for the platform industry for the remainder of 2015
As the industry is well aware, from April 2016 platforms will no longer be able to retain rebates from fund managers on commission-paying assets. While this may appear quite a simple change, in reality it is a huge exercise and likely to be the biggest single piece of work for many advisory firms in 2015.
A considerable amount of work has therefore been going on behind the scenes during the first half of the year, working closely with advisers to ensure they were supported in this transition ahead of the April 2016 deadline. A key challenge is bulk segmentation and conversion of large back books, so in early 2015 we launched bulk segmentation and bulk conversion tools to enable advisers to quickly and easily segment and convert their clients through a simple online process.
As the UK’s leading investment platform for advisers, Cofunds remains committed in its role of supporting advisers with their Sunset needs through to Q3 2015. At this point we will work with advisers to take the communications lead with investors who haven’t yet been converted to clean share classes, ahead of the overall aim of having all conversions completed by the end of February 2016 – well ahead of the deadline.
