Since arriving at Aviva 18 years ago as a newly-trained actuary with a keen interest in investments, Tim Orton has been around the block.
He joined the insurer in 1996 as an investment actuary, and has since headed up its capital management, investment pricing, UK retail funds and product divisions. And that was all before taking up his most current role – chief executive of its platform business – in March.
Like many of his peers in financial services, Mr Orton found his training as an actuary invaluable. His experience of looking after people’s money convinced employers that he had the profile to manage departments. Now in his eighth role at Aviva, he is as enthusiastic as ever about heading up a department in a sector that is booming.
“The platform market is showing huge growth,” he said. “People feel the need to do things quickly and simply. It is exciting, because it is fast growing and still pretty young, with a lot more growth to come in future years.
“There have been a lot of cultural changes. More and more people will need to be responsible for their own money, and the platform industry will play a key role in that.”
Part of his job is to oversee the transformation of Aviva from a “secondary” platform into a major player. Mr Orton said the insurer’s “relatively late” arrival saw it take on the status of a second port of call to serve simple needs, although he said the insurer’s identity in the market is changing.
As Aviva now delivers “all mainstream needs”, he believed a revision to its bit-part status in the platform market is necessary. He added that the firm’s reputation for delivering value, and its tight relationship with advisers, should see its rapid growth continue. Citing how it helped advisers get up to speed with the RDR, as well as its delicate, client-friendly approach to converting share classes, he argued that his employer had done a fine job of cementing its money managing reputation.
Mr Orton was keen to emphasise Aviva’s eagerness to “demonstrate value”, particularly during a time when there has been plenty of scrutiny of platform fees. While he agreed that competition and healthy pricing are important, he was eager to remind consumers that good services are priced appropriately. Some may prefer to go for the cheapest option, he said, but others are willing to pay a little extra for more perks and better service.
He said: “There is a lot of scrutiny on price, but the debate should be about value. There is always a risk that, as an industry, we get pushed to the point, price-wise, where we go so low that we can no longer provide a decent service.
“The healthy thing at the moment is that there is choice. There are players like Transact, which provides strong services to advisers but is different in terms of charging structure, which I think is healthy. People can choose what they want and how much they want to spend. If we all became commoditised, we would all become the same thing.”
Mr Orton predicted that the number of entrants in the platform market will increase in the short term, since many insurers are keen to get involved in one of the biggest growth sectors. At the same time, he anticipated that some new entrants will “run out of patience” in the medium term and exit the market.
Irrespective of how things play out, he said extra competition will ultimately ensure that every provider is required to demonstrate value. This includes promoting transparency, an absence of which has been one of the main criticisms aimed at the sector since its inception.
Many have complained about the complicated fee structures attached to platforms, and the inability to accurately assess fees due to controversial charges for reinvesting dividends and exiting.
In order to reach the next level, Mr Orton urged the industry, as a matter of trust, to make clear its charges. However, he said this should not mean providers are confined to one type of fee structure: whether tiered or fixed fees are applied, the key issue is that the costs involved are made plain from the outset.
Aside from solidifying Aviva’s relationship with advisers, Mr Orton has also been tasked with overseeing the launch of the insurer’s execution-only platform, which is set to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2015.
He said it was inevitable in the digital age for more and more people to go it alone in their financial decision-making, and hinted that the insurer’s offering will be unique in offering a specific focus on at retirement needs.
But despite recognising changing trends in human behaviour and the impact that the RDR has had on the affordability of financial advice, he said there will always be a place for the profession. And while he warned advisers to evolve as advice becomes more of a “scarce commodity”, he likened their value to that of medical professionals.
People, he claimed, have become more “discerning” about when they need advice, and are now willing to consult a professional only in certain situations. To continue his medical analogy, this means consumers are happy to put a plaster on a cut, but they will seek out a specialist when they break a leg.
Daniel Liberto is a former features writer at Financial Adviser
