But the issues have lingered long in advisers’ minds. Ms Hill says: “We’ve undergone replatforming with two platforms and it’s been horrendous; funds disappearing for weeks while the in-specie transfer takes place. In the meantime, because the money isn’t showing on either platform we don’t get the adviser fee. The new platform has no transaction history; where did that go?”
As Ms Hill states, such problems can deter advisers placing future business with the platforms in question.
“I’m moving assets off one platform because I just can’t put clients through this, [and on] the other I have called a halt to moving clients.”
Alasdair Walker, chartered financial planner at Hunter Aitkenhead & Walker, is another left with a bitter taste. He says: “We had some client assets with [one platform where] the admin was truly woeful, with two cases resulting in material losses for clients.”
These episodes are unlikely to deter platforms from undertaking the replatforming process, but will certainly induce a weariness about the potential implications of any problems that arise.
“The ongoing issues with the replatforming must boil down to what incremental benefits are going to be achieved for clients against the enormous costs that seem to be involved. At some point the platforms must begin to consider the damage to reputation that the replatforming issues may generate,” says Tony Catt, compliance officer at TC Compliance Services.
“I was quite surprised that even with all the issues last year, Aviva was still able to report decent figures for money going onto the platform. The platforms with problems have probably been helped by the fact that if they are part of an adviser’s centralised investment proposition, then it is difficult to move to any other provider.”
As Mr Catt states, Aviva actually saw its platform’s assets under management increase to £26.3bn in the first six months of 2019, a 16 per cent rise from June 2018. That was despite advisers still reporting problems as recently as June of this year.
What is more, a company that has been fundamental to Aviva’s migration process now looks set to play a more pivotal role in the wider platform market.
As the Lang Cat’s Mark Polson notes in this month’s technology spotlight, platform technology outfit FNZ has had a busy year. The combination of its planned purchase of GBST, plus the migration of Quilter, would mean its UK platform assets stand in excess of £240bn – representing a substantial market share. The company’s chief executive, Adrian Durham, said in October of last year that FNZ accepted responsibility for Aviva’s failings, and outlined severe cost implications for his business. FNZ will be hoping to avoid past mistakes as the Quilter migration approaches its final stages.
