Many discretionary fund managers compete unwittingly with Vanguard Life Strategy because it has "done the job", according to Minesh Patel, managing director of EA Financial Solutions.
Mr Patel said many DFMs could not say they have always delivered from year to year on a consistent basis, whereas Vanguard had been a "predictable and reliable source of asset allocation for me and my clients".
In the latest FTAdviser podcast, Dave Baxter, deputy editor of Money Management and writer at Asset Allocator, suggested DFMs were seeing cost pressures come through, particularly when it comes to model portfolios, which he noted were "more commoditised".
Mr Patel observed DFMs had started to become very homogeneous and called for more differentiation in the DFM space.
But he said his "level of flow" to DFMs had increased because the volume of assets he was investing for clients had increased in line with the needs and complexities of his clients.
Finally, the panel discussed whether the industry had reached "peak DFM".
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