The financial advice landscape in the UK continues to evolve at pace. Advisers face a confluence of challenges:
• Heightened regulatory demands and market volatility
• Increasing operational complexity
• Ever-growing client expectations
Against this backdrop, outsourcing investment management has become an increasingly compelling consideration for many firms.
According to NextWealth, the growth of the Model Portfolio Services (MPS) market has been remarkable. Between 2021 and 2024, MPS assets under management grew by 81%¹. In 2023 alone, discretionary MPS accounted for 45% of net platform flows².
This momentum aligns with a broader shift in the advice ecosystem. As advisers increasingly focus on financial planning and client engagement, outsourcing offers a solution that ensures investment management is handled with the necessary expertise and rigour. It's a shift that's being driven by both operational efficiency and strategic opportunity.
Here we explore why outsourcing is gaining traction, how it can benefit advice businesses, and why it can help improve client outcomes.
1. Navigating regulatory and market shifts
Regulation is, and has been for many years, the primary concern for advisers. This year, 57% of advisers cited it as their top challenge in the 2024 Schroders Annual Adviser Survey - up sharply from 49% in 2023.
The introduction of The Consumer Duty has raised the bar for what it means to deliver value and ensure good client outcomes. It also brings new complexities, such as the possibility of being classified as co-manufacturers of investment solutions if an advice firm is deemed to exert material influence over portfolio construction.
Read more for insight on operational efficiency, meeting client expectations and why now is the right time for MPS.
Brought to you by Professional Adviser in association with Schroders. By clicking "Click to Read More" you agree to the data protection statement below.
DATA PROTECTION STATEMENT
Your privacy policy – please read carefully:
We set out below how and the basis under which we, Incisive Media*, will communicate with you. In our Privacy Policy we explain how we may use your data.
For subscriptions, events, sponsored content and resources, we will use the lawful basis of 'legitimate interests' and we will use the contact details supplied to us to market to you regarding your trial or subscription, reader research, events and other related products. You will always be offered the option to change your contact preferences. Where you request a whitepaper or content published by one of our third party partners or attend a sponsored event which Incisive Media hosts, we will identify the third party or sponsors to you at the time and then pass on your contact details to them. They will contact you directly and their use of your data will be governed by their own privacy policy. Events may attract additional sponsors after bookings have opened and after the date you have signed up to attend, but we will identify all sponsors to you by email before the event.
