Financial Planners and advisers increasingly view platforms and MPS not as separate choices, but as a single operating system for delivering advice.
Four fifths, 82%, say CIP capability is very important when selecting or reviewing platforms.
Research from Morningstar Wealth, in collaboration with the Lang Cat, suggests a link between increased MPS usage and better alignment with retirement income strategies.
According to the study. advisers were happier with the alignment between their CIP and platform where they used an MPS for clients.
One adviser, interviewed in the research, summed up the platform-MPS relationship: “The platform matters more than I expected. If it’s clunky, the ‘efficient’ model stops being efficient.”
Another adviser added: “Some platforms don’t run MPS as an entity; they run it as the sum of separate parts.”
The MPS market has grown substantially in recent years and confidence remains strong, according to the report – 'Unlocking the next phase of MPS growth: connecting platforms and MPS more effectively'. Among advisers who already use MPS for ‘most’ clients – but not all – 81% anticipate a further increase in usage.
Of all the advisers surveyed, 46% expect further growth in MPS usage. Of these, 27% expect material growth and 19% expect ‘some’ growth, with only 3% expecting a decline in MPS usage.
Steve Owen, head of proposition (EMEA) at Morningstar Wealth, said: “A consistent theme in the research is that advisers do not experience platform and MPS as separate decisions, but as one system.
“Where platforms still run MPS as a collection of separate parts, it becomes harder for firms to explain what they are recommending, harder to report on outcomes, and harder to evidence decisions within a CIP – often generating unhelpful ‘paperwork’ along the way.
“In practice, advisers are recommending an MPS solution, not the underlying holdings. How well that recommendation works day-to-day is shaped by platform capability, governance and reporting, rather than by portfolio design alone.”
• Figures based on research among more than 180 advice professionals.