Cofunds: Don’t let labels obscure RDR debate

Speaking to Financial Adviser, he said: “In this year more than any other, bringing significant new challenges to the traditional way most businesses have worked, the focus must be on helping clients of all types to excel in an RDR world.

“Those who quibble over what they are called - restricted, independent - are missing the point, which is to deliver what’s needed to enable clients to make investing easier.”

He said being a scalable and multi-dimensional business, Cofunds can build the right proposition to serve the different needs of clients across all sectors.

Mr Davis said: “We serve a variety of different financial businesses - from small advisory firms to large banks and custodians - so we’ve now flexed our services, support and expertise into three core client solutions: Investor, Wealth and Enterprise.”

This year, Cofunds will introduce its unbundled pricing model for advised business, which aims to be simple, transparent and flexible.

He said: “This aims to be not only competitive but also one of the most client/adviser-friendly charging propositions in the market, designed to reward investors for increasing their level of assets on platform.”

The Cofunds remuneration model is being transformed to allow advisers to offer different service models to different investor clients, and link these to appropriate fee models and its new pricing model.

Mr Davis added: “We’re not simply focused on IT developments – support and service are crucial to the relationships we have with our customers and we will continue to offer face-to-face, telephone and online support.”