FTAdviser.com

Advertising

IFAs rate Transact and Nucleus higher than any other platforms, according to CoreData Research.

The firm's Wrap and Platform Research 2009 report said advisers preferred Transact to Cofunds, Fidelity FundsNetwork, Selestia Investment Solutions and Standard Life offering FundZone.

Nucleus was voted best small platform, beating James Hay, Ascentric, Seven Investment Management and Standard Life's wrap.

Transact scored highly on ease of use, functionality, choice and service. Nucleus was favoured for its flexibility, as well as its functionality and range of choice.

Matthew Craig, director at CoreData Research, said: "We have benchmarked the main platforms in the market, and Transact and Nucleus scored very well on a wide range of measures among IFAs.

"The challenge for them will be in maintaining their standards as competition intensifies and, in the case of Nucleus, grows, as our evidence from other markets such as Australia shows, platforms often start to creak as they increase in size."

Of the other platforms, Seven Investment Management received solid feedback for its switching and administration standards. Standard Life's wrap earned approval for its connectivity and online transactions. Ascentric's reporting was well reviewed, while Skandia won plaudits for its platform tools, costs and sales support.

But CoreData warned IFAs were worried about tough conditions in the business and had difficulties using platforms to streamline their activities.

A third said "difficult investment market conditions" would prove their key challenge, compared with the 24 per cent who cited regulatory threats to the profession and the 21 per cent who complained of "lack of consumer trust in the financial services industry".

Fifty-four per cent said more effective marketing was an urgent business need, while 51 per cent chose efficient administration. Despite this, a third of IFAs used more than one platform and 26 per cent used three, which Mr Craig said could make their businesses less streamlined.

"Advisers are less concerned with administration and efficiency issues in the current economic climate, as their priority is primarily on attracting business from new and existing clients," Mr Craig said.

"Looking ahead, however, the use of multiple platforms could be a hindrance to greater efficiency at advisers' businesses. It also suggests advisers are not getting everything they want from a single platform."