Platforms: Is the price right (and how on earth do you find out)?

LIKE-FOR-LIKE?

Now that the ‘big three' fund supermarkets have gone public with their unbundled pricing structures, it should be easy to work out which platforms offer the best value. So, is it?

Everyone, it seems, has been waiting for Skandia. The fund supermarket revealed its unbundled pricing model this month, joining fellow providers Cofunds and Fidelity FundsNetwork. The move should allow advisers to finally work out which platform solutions offer the best value for their clients. Unfortunately, it might not be that easy. Skandia, for example, is one of only two platforms to include a ‘collar’ – a minimum charge (in this case £100pa) that hits smaller portfolios – making it trickier to make comparisons. The ‘collar’ is just one of a number of quirks in platform pricin...