Continuously monitoring a platform

He says this should sit alongside formal reviews carried out at regular intervals, which is a minimum requirement of ongoing due diligence as defined by the FCA.

Engaging with many different aspects of a platform’s proposition is important, he adds, from the quality and ease of access to consultants on the ground through to senior members of the business, ensuring the messaging and support is consistent.

Including the views of all members of the adviser’s team who interact with the platform can provide useful checkpoints, Mr Wilson points out. He says this will help to ensure all elements of an advisers business and all areas of a platform’s offering are reviewed.

Mr Wilson adds keeping up to speed with the rest of the market is also important, and this can be where focussed questions to platforms or third party suppliers can streamline the process.

Checking for adaptability is something that is also key to ongoing monitoring. A platform has to slot into many other moving parts within an advisory business – any of which are subject to change, says Stephen Wynne-Jones, head of marketing at Cofunds.

A truly future proofed platform will be designed to integrate fluidly into whatever back office and other internal systems advisory firms choose to use now and in the future, Mr Wynne-Jones says. He adds teams should be on hand to connect systems with the minimum impact on day-to-day business.

Mr Wynne-Jones says: “It is important for advisers to continually review their platform choice when thinking about changes to their own business model, their customer base and the implications of such to their business.

“It is important for firms to conduct their own research on platforms to ensure these are still relevant and fit their scope of service.”

When monitoring your platform periodically, Paul Boston, sales director of Novia, says the first thing to check is that the platform is still facilitating the delivery of your client proposition.

As an example, Mr Boston says if you state “analysis of fund performance” as a service you will need a valuation report that can take into account money in and money out, as this flow of money masks fund performance and will need to be considered when reporting back to the client.

In terms of frequency typically ongoing reviews should be conducted six monthly or at least annually, says Chris Smeaton, director of marketing at James Hay.

Barry Neilson, business development director at Nucleus, points out the regulator does not actually specify how often due diligence should be carried out on a platform.

He argues the exercise should probably be revisited annually, or if there are any significant changes to:

1) Your client bank.

2) Your proposition.

3) Your existing platform’s proposition.

4) Your business objectives, outlook or culture.

5) Regulation.

6) The platform market: leavers, new entrants or mergers and significant price changes.