Chartered financial planning firm Informed Choice has launched its direct-to-consumer proposition IC Direct, following more than a year in development.
IC Direct will target investors who do not need or want advice before making investment decisions.
FTAdviser revealed the company’s plans to offer a D2C service in an interview last year (4 December).
Informed Choice has partnered with Fidelity FundsNetwork to support the execution-only platform.
IC Direct will offer users a range of research tools to help make investment decisions without technically giving advice.
Martin Bamford, founder of IC Direct and managing director of Informed Choice, said: “By combining clean fund pricing with modern investment tools and social features, we have been able to create a user experience which we believe is unrivalled in the UK investment market.”
Investors will pay a fund management charge and an explicit platform fee of 0.45 per cent per anum. An annual account fee of £45 will be waived until 1 April 2015.
There are no initial charges or switching charges applied to any of the funds, and no hidden charges, rebates or loyalty bonuses.
Holly Mackay, managing director of The Platforum, said: “Of the 10.8m investors in the UK, only 14 per cent leave everything to their IFA. Our research found that over 3m UK investors self-serve, leaving a very large pool of investors who dip in and out of advice according to their needs.
“The days of a Cold War between advised and direct channels are over. We’re all now waking up to the reality that investors are complex consumers, rather than neat distribution channels.”
