Wednesday, 13 November 2013 08:45
Standard Life to review fund supermarket platforms
Standard Life has announced a review of its FundZone and Sigma fund supermarkets. It says this is in response to adviser demand for easier access to wrap capabilities.
David Tiller, Standard Life head of adviser platforms, said: "Advisers are looking for fund supermarkets to offer the type of services more commonly found on a Wrap platform, including the ability to switch on more sophisticated functionality as and when they need it.
"Given that we already have scalable Wrap technology in our stable, we are looking at how we can use the underlying systems architecture to offer a natural upgrade path for fund supermarket advisers looking to access that additional functionality.
"The review will look at how we do this in an efficient manner without asking advisers to re-register their clients' assets."
Most of this activity will be behind the scenes as Standard Life reviews the systems and processes supporting the fund supermarkets.
The first visible changes relate to the fully bundled Sigma fund supermarket, traditionally used to access Standard Life Investments funds. In quarter one 2014, the 4% of Sigma customers invested in funds managed by third parties will be given a range of options to update their existing arrangements. This will include moving to an unbundled model on the FundZone platform with access to discounted share classes.
Adviserzone is Standard Life's dedicated extranet site for UK financial advisers.
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David Tiller, Standard Life head of adviser platforms, said: "Advisers are looking for fund supermarkets to offer the type of services more commonly found on a Wrap platform, including the ability to switch on more sophisticated functionality as and when they need it.
"Given that we already have scalable Wrap technology in our stable, we are looking at how we can use the underlying systems architecture to offer a natural upgrade path for fund supermarket advisers looking to access that additional functionality.
"The review will look at how we do this in an efficient manner without asking advisers to re-register their clients' assets."
Most of this activity will be behind the scenes as Standard Life reviews the systems and processes supporting the fund supermarkets.
The first visible changes relate to the fully bundled Sigma fund supermarket, traditionally used to access Standard Life Investments funds. In quarter one 2014, the 4% of Sigma customers invested in funds managed by third parties will be given a range of options to update their existing arrangements. This will include moving to an unbundled model on the FundZone platform with access to discounted share classes.
Adviserzone is Standard Life's dedicated extranet site for UK financial advisers.
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