It is a specially selected group of eight Discretionary Fund Managers who can offer Standard Life Wrap advisers the expertise and assurance when dealing with the retirement market.
The DFMs selected currently look after around 61% of the open market discretionary assets on the Wrap platform. Discretionary Plus is designed to complement the existing DFM offering on the platform and can be used alongside other DFMs. Standard Life Wrap currently has 30 DFMs on Platform with more being added on a regular basis.
The eight firms selected by Standard Life Wrap are:- Brewin Dolphin, Brooks Macdonald, Charles Stanley, Financial Express, Investec, Quilter Cheviot Standard, Life Wealth, and Vestra Wealth.
David Tiller, Standard Life Head of Adviser Platform Propositions, said:
“Many advisers have told us they are reviewing their Central Investment Proposition to ensure they are well placed to support clients in retirement. In particular, CIPs are being reviewed with sustainability of income in mind rather than maximising growth. I also believe advisers are considering the capacity issues that may arise from the massive increase in client demand arising from the Chancellor's pension freedoms. What we are seeing is advisers bolstering their processes to meet this demand, which is extremely encouraging.
“We are also seeing more advisers wanting to access DFM expertise on their own platform to maximise control, fee transparency and flexibility by bypassing the need for separate custody arrangements and additional contractual arrangements.
“Discretionary Plus is all about putting advisers in the driving seat to enable them to deliver sustainable solutions to their clients. This is about delivering great client outcomes and I am delighted that all of the Discretionary Plus DFMs have thought deeply about the retirement challenge. For example, all recognise the need to react quickly to market movements with some carrying out portfolio reviews as often as daily, this will give advisers great confidence that their portfolios will not drift from their target volatility bands. This sort of innovation is exactly what is required if we are to meet the retirement advice needs of the UK population."
Graham Dow, Head of Investment Group Relationships at Standard Life said:
“We are very keen to bring something fresh to this part of the market. The DFMs that we have selected have all demonstrated either a strong heritage in supporting the adviser community or shown us that they can introduce some really innovative ideas particularly in the retirement market which is facing unprecedented change.
“It was really important to me that we were able to present a broad range of firms who represent a mixture of the traditional to the new; the well-established to the younger brands. Given that all demonstrate strong core beliefs around portfolio construction, risk control, transparency and competitive pricing, this leaves the adviser to choose the company who is most closely aligned to their own brand values and cultural outlook.”
