Major platform Skandia has said it is unlikely to offer investment trusts until at least 2016, in a setback for trust evangelists.
Skandia has said it will not offer trusts until its back-office technology is outsourced to a new system from International Financial Data Services (IFDS) – a move planned for 2016 at the earliest.
The group cited internal client research revealing that just 7 per cent of advisers now plan to invest their clients in trusts, compared to 10 per cent in the second quarter of 2012.
IFDS, a global provider of outsourcing and technology solutions, signed a 20-year contract with Skandia to supply the platform with new technology last year, in a deal that will see wealth management platform Bluedoor implemented on the platform.
Skandia said that when Bluedoor goes live it should enable the listing of a more diverse range of funds, including trusts.
When the UK’s financial regulator banned open-ended funds from paying commission in its RDR clampdown at the end of 2012, hopes were high that investment trusts would see renewed interest from investment intermediaries.
But the key gateways to investment business – the UK’s ‘top three’ platforms of Cofunds, FundsNetwork and Skandia – have continued to drag their feet on making trusts available in earnest.
In March investment trust trade body the AIC said purchases of trusts on the smaller platforms had risen by 67 per cent year on year.
