Tom Ellis: The platform market is all acquisition but no consolidation

James Hay's parent IFG was recently acquired by a private equity group for £206m. While it may be an acquisition that has gone under the radar, it is the most recent platform deal since Interactive Investors' £40m acquisition of Alliance Trust Savings (ATS), which saw the Hargreaves Lansdown challenger purchase both ATS's adviser and D2C propositions.  That particular handshake took place back in October 2018 - although regulatory approval came a while later - and it highlights how the consolidation action over the last few years has fallen far short of some people's expectations. The tw...