Ferguson: Why should 'shonky' fund managers rule platforms?

‘Adviser as platform is a perfectly legitimate model’

Jenna Brown
clock • 5 min read

Operating a platform should not be the preserve of asset managers, according to David Ferguson, who said the sometimes “shonky” businesses made no better custodians than others in financial services, including adviser firms.

Speaking at an FE Fundinfo conference on tech-enabled advice last week, the Seccl chief executive (CEO) debated the issues surrounding ‘adviser as platform' with Abrdn adviser CEO Noel Butwell. Ferguson said: "I struggle with adviser as platform ‘thing' - does it mean Quilter should not be in the platform market? "For me, it is perfectly legitimate for an advice firm to operate a platform. There are certain overheads associated with it, there is no question on that. There is also an opportunity to substantially reduce costs and create a more efficient business model." He added: "I ...

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