Two thirds of advisers prefer unbundled pricing, study
Almost three quarters of advisers prefer clean pricing where the cost of adviser charges and platform fees are stripped out.
Advisers would strongly favour unbundled platform pricing models and ‘clean’ fund share classes post-Retail Distribution Review, research from self-invested pension and platform provider AJ Bell suggests.
In the wake of ongoing delays in the publication of the Financial Services Authority’s long-awaited final RDR platform rules, AJ Bell conducted a survey among 100 adviser firms to “test their appetite in bundled versus unbundled charging structures”.
It said that only 1 per cent of respondents favoured the bundled approach, while 62 per cent prefer unbundled pricing and 37 per cent said they are happy to use both.
On the subject of fund pricing, clean pricing, with 72 per cent opting for an approach where any rebate and platform fee is stripped out of the fund share price.
Billy Mackay, marketing director at A J Bell, said: “You can be sure that price will continue to play an important part in any platform due diligence process.
“Over the recent months, platform pricing has been a little bit like a game of cat and mouse with many firms announcing snippets of information about their future plans.
“Whilst the platforms seem unable to agree on the most appropriate approach to charging, these findings show that advisers are at one and clearly favour clean pricing.”