19 February 2020
•
Quilter platform Old Mutual Wealth has simplified its pricing structure to help clients save what it said would be "substantial" amounts each year.
OMW has said its pricing structure will reduce from five charging tiers to four. While the first tier remains the same (see image below) at 0.50% for the first £25,000, the fourth tier charge starts at 0.15% for £750,000, rather than £1m. The pricing changes will be introduced from April 2020.
The platform also said it will launch family linking, which will allow investors from the same family to link their OMW assets together. Spousal linking is the common factor so far, but it said the new feature would allow multiple generational links, including grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren.
We are seeing more advisers using our platform to support wider family units and providing advice that spans generations"
The platform said that, when investments are linked with family members, it uses those combined assets held to calculate the percentage rate and ultimately lower the charged paid by each individual. OMW said its platform charge reduces in stages as the total value of a customer's assets increases.
OMW chief executive officer Steven Levin said: "We are seeing more advisers using our platform to support wider family units and providing advice that spans generations. And it is our duty to encourage intergenerational planning, allowing advisers to offer savings to those families."
He continued: "Our new platform technology will deliver a number of efficiencies and I am delighted to be able to share these savings with customers."
Quilter is set to conduct the first phase of its migration of OMW platform assets onto its newly powered FNZ-technology this weekend (22-24 February). OMW head of proposition and marketing Jeremy Mugridge told PA that, if they were not prepared for the migration and had not learnt lessons from other firms who have re-platformed, then he probably would be cautious.
In February last year, OMW confirmed it had completed its "soft launch" of the platform, which saw several staff move onto its FNZ-powered platform.
According to the lang cat, this is Quilter's first platform price changes in eight years since they were lasted altered post-RDR in 2014 when it removed drawdown charges and its minimum fee. The platform consultancy's heat map below, which includes OMW's new and old pricing structure, suggests the platform will remain in the middle of the market on cost for clients with large portfolios.
The lang cat analyst Chris Bredin said any price cuts are good for advisers and their clients. He said it might be an aspect of their being some good news [for advisers] ahead of OMW's re-platforming this weekend.
However, he did say the change is "relatively small" compared to Standard Life's platform fee cuts last year. "The main thing is it's a good thing to have happened," he said.
This article was first published by Professional Adviser, International Investment's sister title
Subscribe to International Investment's free, twice-daily, newsletter
