Skandia believes 2012 will be the ‘defining year’ for platforms and wraps as changes are made ahead of RDR.

A key change in the growth of the platform market will be the use of platforms for pensions, it believes.

Skandia feels that while platforms dominate sales of Isas and collective investments, there is scope for platform pensions to displace Sipps in the future.

By 2015, the firm estimates over 50 per cent of all new private pensions will be platform pensions.

Platforms would also make greater use of passive investments and guarantees as investors seek alternative investment options to the volatile stock market.

However, these changes are dependent on the Financial Services Authority’s decision on platform rebates.

The FSA currently proposes to ban cash rebates from fund groups to platforms.

Fund rebates would only be permitted when they are passed to the investor via additional fund units.

This could severely affect the business model of wraps as many of them rely heavily on cash rebates.

Nick Dixon, marketing director at Skandia, said: “2012 is likely to be the busiest and most competitive year to date for the platform market. There needs to be significant progress made to support the evolving needs of customers and financial advisers and the winners will be the platforms that rise to the challenge.

“Some of the wraps seem to be assuming it will be business as usual for them post-RDR but in reality their business models face a fundamental challenge.”