Selecting an MPS isn’t where the work ends. Jo Campbell, Chief Operating Officer at Verve, explains why paraplanners should be as interested in due diligence as the investment committee, especially with the FCA preparing to take a closer look.
Managed Portfolio Services have had a pretty easy ride so far. They’ve grown quickly and quietly, without much regulatory attention. That’s about to change, with the FCA’s review of how Consumer Duty is being embedded across the MPS distribution chain expected in Q1 of 2027.
We recently put together a whitepaper with Aberdeen on exactly this. It’s aimed at firm leaders, compliance teams and investment committees, but as I read it I kept thinking, this is our bread and butter.
Paraplanners and administrators write the reports, field the client calls and chase the platform when something goes sideways, so here’s what I think we can take from it.
Know who the client actually is
Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Under an agent as client model, your firm is the MPS provider’s client, not the end investor. Under reliance on others, the investor usually has the contractual relationship with the DFM.
That difference affects who the client complains to and whether they can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
If your suitability report is vague on who manages the money and who’s responsible, that’s a potentially dangerous gap. Find out which model your firm’s MPS uses and make sure it’s written down clearly and concisely in language the client will understand.
If you can’t understand it, neither can they
This is one of my favourite points in the paper. We can’t control a provider’s literature, but we can assess it, digest it and reproduce the information in a more digestible way. If a factsheet takes you three coffees and a lie down to decipher, the client has no chance.
The same goes for risk. Your firm’s risk questionnaire, the provider’s risk mapping and their own risk management add up to a lot for one client to get their head around. Check that the mapping lines up, and flag it when it doesn’t.
Charges and performance aren’t the whole story
An IFA Magazine survey found 74% of advisers ranked charges as the most important factor when choosing an MPS, with investment philosophy trailing at 50%. I get it, numbers are easy to compare.
Heck, we’re paraplanners, we loooooove numbers. But average charges have dropped from around 1% in 2015 to 0.56% (all-in) in 2025, so there’s not much between most providers any more; they’re all much of a muchness.
And past performance is backwards looking, often flattered by a US tech rally. When you’re writing up the rationale, dig into the performance aims and benchmark. That’s what you’ll hold the MPS to account against later.
I never recommend stacking suitability on performance because in economic downturns, it becomes much harder to justify. Much easier to go on appropriateness for the circumstances, with good performance, some nice serendipity to sprinkle on top.
Admin teams, this one’s for you
Consumer support is mostly reactive. Who picks up the phone when a client is bereaved or needs their tax pack for the accountant? Yep, you guess it – us.
Find out now what the provider’s bereavement process looks like, how quickly tax reporting arrives and whether they can offer paper or large print documents. Rebalancing is worth a look too, as frequent trades can hit a client’s CGT position outside of a wrapper.
Keep it under review
Due diligence isn’t something you tick off once and file away. Has the management team changed? Has the provider been bought? Are the charges or underlying funds different to when you first looked?
Paraplanners doing annual reviews are perfectly placed to spot these things, so build them into your checklist.
Let the provider do some heavy lifting
Some MPS providers will supply suitability report content or a risk profiling annex for a selected portfolio. If yours does, use it (once checked and verified, obviously). There’s no prize for rewriting the same paragraph four hundred times (though imagine if there was?!)
The paper finishes with a toolkit of questions to ask providers, and honestly, it would make a great checklist to keep by your desk. None of this means starting from scratch. It means being consistent, evidencing what you do and understanding what you’re recommending well enough to explain it to your half deaf grandma.
Remember, if the FCA comes a-knocking, your file ought to be a-rocking.
Main image: idea, learn, paper, light bulb – Shutterstock
