There has always been some conflict between advisers and product providers over client ownership.
An adviser’s position has always been pretty clear: the client’s relationship is with the adviser, and they are only with a particular provider due to a specific recommendation.
Providers on occasion seem to take a different view and the poaching of advisers’ clients by providers is not unheard of.
I am now concerned that one of the major fund managers, Jupiter, may be encroaching on the adviser-client relationship.
Within their latest client statements they include a survey. This is not in itself sinister, but the emphasis of the questions and tick-box answers raises a concern.
The survey asks clients whether they use ‘fund lists’ and then lists the likes of ‘Hargreaves Lansdown’s Wealth 150’ or the ‘Chelsea Selection’ as possible answers.
It questions which platform clients use and then lists direct sales platforms as possible answers rather than adviser platforms such as Cofunds or Transact.
It may simply be that the survey is poorly drawn up by the direct (non-IFA) arm of Jupiter.
But the survey’s use with IFA clients should be of concern to all advisers who should naturally object to any provider literature that seems to minimise the adviser-client relationship, and makes specific references to their non-IFA competitors.
Scott Gallacher is director at Rowley Turton
