Over a third (34%) of advisers changed one or more of their preferred platforms in the last 12 months, says Defaqto.
This compares to 28% the previous year and 19% in the year before.
According to Defaqto’s Platform Service Review for 2024, Aviva remains advisers’ preferred platform provider with 29% of advisers placing the firm in their top three choices. However, Quilter has remained in second place, returning the greatest number of first or only choices.
The review found the platform market is largely dominated by Aviva, Quilter, AJ Bell, Fidelity and Transact, with more than 20% of advisers placing these platforms in their top three.
However, Defaqto warned platforms not to become complacent. Fidelity Adviser Solutions dropped from third place to fifth, while Hubwise Securities and Wealthtime also saw their positions drop, falling out of the top 10 preferred providers.
Adviser satisfaction levels have also fallen. On average, scores fell by seven percentage points, with the top five most important categories suffering the most.
Darren Winfield, insight consultant at Defaqto, said: “The rise in platform changes shows that advisers are becoming increasingly confident making switches to improve experience and accessibility for their clients. This is likely due to the impact of Consumer Duty regulation, alongside the impact of mergers, takeovers and technology updates in the past 12 months.
“Additionally, we’ve seen adviser satisfaction fall in key areas such as new business administration, existing business administration and transition and implementation. This combined with industry changes means that platform providers must continually look to improve service and experience to meet complex adviser needs. Investing in these areas is crucial and brands who become complacent will start to get left behind.”
Defaqto said 7IM achieved the most top three places for performance, polling, first place for three of the categories as well as second place for a further six.
Meanwhile, Parmenion achieved the greatest number of first place positions, while Quilter and Wealthtime also scored four top three places apiece.
However, overall, the industry is meeting or exceeding expectations for only four out of 11 categories of service with the categories ranked top three for importance – new business administration, existing business administration and transition and implementation – all falling below adviser’s expectations.
The top 10 preferred providers, in order, were:
1. Aviva, 29%
2. Quilter, 27%
3. AJ Bell, 26%
4. Transact, 22%
5. Fidelity Adviser Solutions, 21%
6. Aegon Platform, 11%
7. abrdn (for Wrap), 10%
= Aegon Retirement Choices (ARC), 10%
9. abrdn Elevate, 9%
= Novia Financial, 9%
Percentages based on the total (rounded) first, second or third choice platform for advisers.
