Last Friday a new IFA website was launched – Meaningful Money (http://meaningfulmoney.tv/). The website that has been produced by Pete Matthew of Jacksons Financial Services in Penzance. I have followed Pete’s use of technology for a little while now and he often leads the way with fresh and interesting ideas, continually using technology to add value to his business. He is a strong believer of using technology in his face to face financial planning and currently uses Voyant to good effect in front of/together with his clients. Despite what some more traditional elements in the industry may say using technology in front of the client, Peter hasn’t found that it has created barriers or devalued his service but has in fact helped to increase the level of service he gives.

With Meaningful Money, he is pushing the boundaries away from the traditional brochureware site of many IFA practices with the quite brilliant and engaging use of video. Meaningful Money is in effect a library of video blogs about financial issues. In the videos, Pete gives his personal insights into how to manage finances and investments, how to plan for retirement and how to financial insure against various scenarios.

His videos cover the core principals of Financial planning, building the foundations of the financial plan, investments and risk management and general topical financial discussions. The videos are delivered in an engaging format, with Peter talking to the camera as he moves around the county. The style builds rapport and relationship (you feel you know Peter well after the first video) before the client has even met Peter.

The boldness in this approach is that it could enable clients to become more financial astute and to selfserve, convincing themselves that they don’t need financial advice. However, the hard truth is that for some clients, this may be the right thing to do and they may not be in the position to justify Pete’s fees yet (when they can I wouldn’t mind betting Peter is on the list of people to contact). The reality though for many clients is that they will realise the complexity of their financial situation and Peter is then ideally placed to help them.

The reach of Meaningful Money is of course is far wider than the Cornish boarders and Pete’s services through the use of technology are now also stretching their reach throughout the UK. Through the use of Skype Video he can contact clients easily and recreate some of the personal chemistry associated with face to face advice but without the cost and time of travelling to remote clients.

Meaningful Money is one of the most unusual and differentiated IFA websites we have seen and we recommend a review of its capability.

The Platform market is in an interesting and potentially challenging place to be at the moment. As we have said in the past, there has been strong growth in the number of Operators and in the ‘Assets under Administration’ (AUA) on Platforms. The number of Platforms is currently circa 20 with several more in the pipeline and some people still considering whether they should enter the market. The AUA is over £100 billion having grown by some 46% over the last year and expected AUA of over £300 billion by 2012.

With adviser interest in making Platforms part of their business models, it would seem that there is a good commercial case for Platforms. Indeed, it is likely that firms will need to consider not just whether they do adopt a Platform strategy but why they wouldn’t. The FSA Discussion Paper 10/2 has added to the debate with a range of questions about the due diligence, ongoing management, segmentation and customer solution matching along with remuneration methods and transparency as well as best execution.

We have looked at a number of Platforms and written articles as part of our weekly PA column. We have also looked at a recent initiative by Capita that has seen the launch of the Synaptic [Platform] Comparator. There has been some debate about whether it is possible (or right) for a firm to choose a single Platform. The FSA paper said that although they do not expect firms to review the platform market for each client, they do expect firms to consider which platform(s) are appropriate for their client bank – or segments of their client bank – in general terms and then ensure the recommendation is suitable for individual clients…

Different parties have chosen to interpret the FSA statement in different ways. Clearly, there is further debate and lobbying to take place on what is and isn’t acceptable. The Consultation Paper was expected midyear but this has now slipped to Q3 – perhaps giving an indication that there are still some challenges to be resolved in the mind of the regulator. We have written a Paper on the subject of Platforms – available here…. In addition, we have reviewed the Synaptic Comparator product that has now been launched and the article will be published in Professional Adviser in a few weeks. One of the striking issues that Comparator raised was the big, maybe surprising, perhaps even shocking differences in the potential customer outcomes. Platforms do not have simple, consistently clear and transparent charges! Trying to understand the implications of the charges and to compare how these affect customers’ choices is a good thing (some may not agree). If you use a measure such as ‘reduction in yield’ (RIY), or total expense ratios (TER) it is possible to see the ’drag’ of charges on an investment and this can vary significantly between first and second choice as well as the best and worst – hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of pounds!

By fragmenting the issue of choice, some may see comparison tools as undermining the modus operandi of Platforms as being a single economic asset management solution. However, the differences cannot be ignored and the industry is likely to close some of the gaps through competitive pressure and in time is also likely to consolidate Platform choice through M&A. We believe it is better that the industry sees and addresses the differences of choice and value early as we do not want to see another potential mis-selling scandal that hurts everyone.

Advisers need to look at Platforms to assess whether they are right for their business and for their clients. They should rule in or out of having a Platform strategy with a conscious justification that is reviewed regularly and tested against segments and individual needs. The issue of choice remains, not only at outset (even if a single Platform strategy can be justified when challenged) but also through ongoing reviews for how assessments are carried out and with what frequency – periodic or on each customer transaction.

As for Platform Operators (current and potential), the question of their own business case must be robustly assessed as there is a current trend to reduce costs that could reduce or remove margins. However, there is also a question about whether some Providers can decide not to become Operators if they are to remain viable businesses in the future.

Last week we hosted our Technology Roundtable sponsored by Sammedia. The topic under discussion was the use of technology by clients to manage their finances.

We were joined by Danny Wynn from L&G, Ross Dunlop at Standard Life, Ray Chinn of LV=, Phillip Brown of Partnership, Verona Smith of Cofunds, Adrian Bishop from Scottish Widows, David Greenall from Canada Life and Michael Free and Tessa Lee from Sammedia.

There was little debate as to the capacity for consumers to use the internet to manage their finances. The uptake of online banking, the success of the comparison sites and the popularity of sites such as Martin Lewis’s themoneyexpert.com all showed the consumer’s propensity to go online to manage their finances.

The debate instead focused on the ability of Product Providers and Distributors to take advantage of this propensity.

Much focus was given on the need to ensure services were relevant and desirable by the end consumers. MoneyInfo from Sammedia was held up as a positive example of keeping things relevant for the end consumer. It collates information from different bank accounts and investment vehicles to give an up to date net worth for the client with the ability to analyse their position further. It is created in an ‘Apple’ look and feel to give it a sexy shine.

Another key focus was the creation of new products for the online world rather than simply putting existing products onto the web. Partnership have achieved this and as a result their annuity application form is stripped down from 20 pages to just 10 yes/no answers. They have challenged the accepted norms and smashed them apart.

The re-engineering of solutions is not always possible and advice is always likely to exist and the role of advisers in the sales process is key. But advisers need to embrace the technology too and support the online world bringing clients back to face to face world as required. Solutions like Moneyextra.com can help with that if embraced by the adviser world. They can be tools that IFAs offer to their clients that keep them engaged and keep the adviser at top of mind so when they need help with the more difficult aspects of financial planning they get help from them, when they don’t need assistance they may still transact via the IFA but online on the IFAs site.

Technology has a big role to play in the sale and service of L&P products – those advisers and product providers that realise this and seize the initiate will prosper post 2012. I fear for those (and there are many) that don’t.