Aviva has compiled a range of between 80 and 90 ‘select funds’ for advisers from a universe of roughly 3,500 on its platform.
Phil Ralli, the provider’s head of platform delivery, told FTAdviser it can be difficult for advisers to narrow down the right selection of funds for individual clients.
In addition, he said advisers have got a lot of work to do making sure they can demonstrate the centralised investment proposition comes up with consistent and robust answers, as far as the Financial Conduct Authority is concerned.
“There are lots of different ways coming up with the right subset of funds for the particular client you are dealing with,” he commented.
“Lots of people are using discretionary managers to help them with that investment fund selection. Some adviser firms are still doing individual fund selection, so they will look at that whole range of 3,500 funds and choose the right 10 or a dozen.”
It would worry us how Aviva had selected the funds and we would want to do our own research on them. Daren O’BrienMr Ralli noted increasingly advisers have been asking providers to narrow down the fund selection to something suitable for individual clients.
Aviva’s range includes a mixture of passive and active funds, with Mr Ralli adding there is enough choice for advisers to cope with different attitudes to risk and investment objectives.
Daren O’Brien, director at London-based Aurora Financial Solutions, said Aviva’s select funds seems similar to a Hargreaves Lansdown best buy list.
He said: “It can be useful for light touch advisers wanting to restrict the number of funds - for restricted advisers it might be useful but not for independent advisers.
“It would worry us how Aviva had selected the funds and we would want to do our own research on them.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
