Aegon UK and Brewin Dolphin have announced a discretionary fund management partnership on the Aegon Retirement Choices platform.
The move comes as part of a wider commitment from Aegon to invest in services valued by advisers following an increasing demand for sophisticated investment strategies tailored to meet specific needs.
The partnership with Brewin Dolphin means that advisers looking to outsource investment management can choose from a range of portfolios on Aegon’s platform so that the financial adviser can focus on wider financial planning priorities.
The news comes after a significant increase in the number of clients across the platform market requiring sophisticated investment strategies.
Currently 10 per cent of assets under management are invested by DFMs, according to data from Platforum UK Advisor Guide.
The partnership follows a significant expansion in Aegon’s investment range with 488 new investments added in the last year. Their range currently exceeds 4,000 different choices.
Nick Dixon, investment director at Aegon UK, said: “This partnership also marks a milestone in our commitment to continually develop the services most values by clients and their financial advisers. We will further improve Aegon’s investment offer in the coming year.”
IFA verdict
Matthew Harris, director at Fife-based Dalbeath Financial Planning said: “We would want to clearly understand the management charges for these funds before we recommended them to our clients. I would not recommend any fund which levied initial charges, and would be very sceptical that an annual management charge of more than 1 per cent would be worth paying.
“Also, if advisers are charging an ongoing adviser charge on top of the charges of a discretionary fund manager then clients need to ask their adviser what the total annual cost of their investment is, and what they are getting for their money. Nothing eats a client’s money away faster than layer upon layer of charges.”
