Openwork has said it is working with Zurich on upgrading the provider's platform to include a robo-advice element.
The network's advisers currently use two platforms: Zurich and IFDL, but the former is more common.
Mike Morrow, wealth director at Openwork, said that between them those platforms had almost £7bn of assets on them from the network's advisers but he was trying to think of ways for the company to look after even more of their investors' assets.
He said advisers' clients often wouldn't be advised on all their assets and would often have savings on one side which they managed themselves.
Mr Morrow said: "I keep thinking to myself how much more we would be able to capture if we were able to deal with all of the investments our clients had.
"So they could have all their money in one place but they don't necessarily have to be advised on all of their assets. That sounds simple but it is actually quite hard.
"That could be a more robo-type solution or it could be a direct-to-consumer element."
Mr Morrow said having a platform which included an element of self-service would allow Openwork to steer clients towards its advisers if they had more complex needs - for example if they had saved for a deposit and wanted to buy a house.
Openwork, the UK’s largest adviser network with more than 3,600 members, was previously 25 per cent owned by Zurich but the provider announced it would sell its stake in 2016, a process which was completed earlier this year.
The network will continue to distribute Zurich’s product lines in the UK, offering them to its advisers through its panels.
Mr Morrow said that now the business was independent from Zurich, it was considering floating on the stock exchange but he said this was "a way away".
He said: "We are not particularly crying out for investment but businesses either grow or they die and the easiest way of growing is probably a market listing.
"Being an adviser-driven, adviser-owned network is important to us because it keeps our feet to the flames. There is no reason to end that if the business did list. Most businesses don't list all their equity."
Another project which Openwork said it couldn't have done while it was part-owned by Zurich - which it is now considering - is buying out retiring advisers.
This is something Tenet started doing in 2016 because there was demand among advisers looking for an easy way to exit the market.
Mr Morrow said: "If we think about where we are going to get growth from in the future, we will see some of the smaller directly authorised firms, they are going to find it harder and harder to exit the industry and they want someone to buy their book of clients and look after them. Could we be the buyer or could another Openwork adviser be the buyer?
"We couldn't have done it while we were still part of Zurich.
"We have to get our wealth adviser numbers up and that's the hardest part of the business to grow. It is not that hard to find mortgage advisers but wealth advises don't tend to leave as often.
"Now we are able to raise capital in our own right, that's something we are going to be more interested in."
He said there was a supply shortage of financial advisers that kept pushing the existing community further and further upmarket, "which is a bit of a failing of the marketplace".
He said: "The only firms which seem to be showing any commitment to recruiting and training advisers to come to the industry are the ones which are vertically integrated.
"This is an industry which does need new advisers and if the regulator makes it difficult for vertically integrated firms to operate, that makes it very difficult to keep growing the sector."
"There is a fair amount of kidding yourself that goes on when I meet and talk to the intermediaries who suggest they are whole of market. They will often be something that feels quite restricted to me. The most important thing is delivering to customers."
In the interim report of its platform market study, published this week, the Financial Conduct Authority did not find any difference between charge transparency at vertically integrated firms and those which weren't.
Simon Torry, a chartered financial planner at SRC Wealth Management, said: "The intention to give the client more flexibility and freedom to manage their affairs might be a good one but there could be some unintended consequences.
"Where do you draw the line with clients managing their own affairs?"
damian.fantato@ft.com
