Platform industry losses near £50m despite AUA growth

Research from platform consultancy Altus examining accounts for the top twenty UK platforms between 2006 and 2011 shows total revenues of £740m for 2011, up from £330m in 2006. But expenditure rose from £380m to almost £790m over the same period. Though AUA increased five-fold in that time, average revenue as a proportion of AUA fell from 80bps to 40bps. Altus pointed to an over-emphasis on asset growth and insufficient attention to back office costs as the main reasons for a lack of profitability. "The platform industry has matured at lightning speed over the last decade, focus...