Responding to the FCA’s recent platform paper, which announced a ban on cash rebates from next April, the head of sales at FundsNetwork said it had been adding between 100 and 200 clean share classes a month to the platform.
He said: “The platform paper and our conversations with advisers reinforced the need to accelerate our clean share class take-up to help advisers migrate their business models.
“We will achieve broad fund coverage in advance of the April 2014 deadline for new business and will add more as fund groups make them available.”
Meanwhile, some 80 per cent of Novia’s clean share classes have already been loaded onto the platform. Richard Denning, operations director for Novia, said: “The use of our technology solution has accelerated the process and we have not had to take on extra staff to complete the job.”
Background
Other platform providers, including Cofunds, Zurich, Standard Life and Alliance Trust, have begun migrating to clean share classes ahead of next year’s rebate ban, while Skandia has introduced “unbundled” share classes that will continue to offer a rebate where possible.
Adviser view
Kevin Morgan, managing director at Hertfordshire-based Consilium Financial Planning, said: “Some providers have been bleating that they can’t do it in time, but what others are doing has to be a good thing. The more transparent we make the process of advice, the better and it is important our clients understand this.”
