Our regular round-up of the latest insights on investment distribution

Asset managers are thinking hard about distribution opportunities in 2018 and the role of their brands. Cognitive science looks at how the brain interprets marketing and to some extent this boils down to a battle of ‘head’ versus ‘heart’. Do consumers make...

In the first quarter of 2018, growth in adviser platform assets halted and they remain just shy of the £500bn mark. Equity markets have been less favourable over the quarter with a period of volatility halting the progress of 2017’s bull market. The benefits of...

How are advisers advising in decumulation? That was the tongue twister we put to advisers this week at a roundtable discussion. There are clear differences in philosophy and approach for IHT planning, investment management, DB transfers and particularly around...

The debate rages on as to whether financial advisers should look after their clients’ investments and manage portfolios in-house or outsource them to a DFM. Following the RDR there was an uptick in advisers going down the outsourced route but in recent years we...

Platform growth has accelerated across Europe. Assets under administration on platform are just shy of €2.5 trillion as at end of 2017. B2B platforms are four times bigger than direct platforms. While digital investing is the only way going forward it doesn’t have...

However much a company tries to do the right thing, sometimes it’s really hard to deliver the service it sets out to offer. TSB has worthy values – straightforward, transparent and responsible. It also has 8,500 staff working to meet the needs of customers, but...