Parmenion has scooped the platform of the year award for 2019 from consultancy firm the Lang Cat after receiving “consistently stellar feedback” from advisers.
In the Lang Cat’s Advised Platform Guide, out today (December 20), the firm said Parmenion advisers had increased the platform’s assets under administration by 25 per cent throughout the year and “expressed delight along the way”.
The report stated: “We really like its key process architecture. Its Mifid II costs and charges disclosure is the best in the business.
“Its service — both the field team and the phone team are extremely highly rated. Usability is great too; everything is well laid out. And finally, Parmenion is well priced for a full-service offering.”
Other platforms to bag an award included AJ Bell Investcentre, Transact, Hubwise, and Seccl.
AJ Bell’s adviser platform, Investcentre, was named the best advised platform for retirement income while Transact scooped the best adviser platform for complex accumulation.
The award for accumulation for simple needs went to Parmenion, while Hubwise and Seccl were joint winners of disruptor of the year.
Elsewhere in the guide the Lang Cat predicted major platform pricing shifts and a break up of the market over the next few years.
Mark Polson, principal of the Lang Cat, said: “Whether or not Vanguard’s new 0.15 per cent pension and Standard Life’s recently announced drawdown price-lock prompts rampant adoption of capped charges and lower rates remains to be seen.
“But we think there will be some major price movement in 2020. We reckon 0.15 per cent is going to be widely achievable in 2020/21 – however advisers will have to be willing to move assets to get it.
“And there’s absolutely nothing we have seen over the last year to suggest advisers have any appetite for bulk migration exercises.”
Mr Polson also thought the platform market was “starting to break apart”. He said: “It seems untenable to have so many platforms all doing roughly the same thing — trying to facilitate every imaginable adviser proposition.”
He said it was a “welcome sign” things were starting to “break apart” as it meant advisers no longer needed to “take what the market serves up”.
imogen.tew@ft.com
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