Platforms  

Seccl CEO: 'The platform market is broken'

Seccl CEO: 'The platform market is broken'
Seccl CEO David Ferguson. (Seccl)

Legacy platforms could fail if they do not update their technology, according to Seccl's CEO.

David Ferguson claimed the platform market was still broken and said a lot more digitisation needs to happen if it was to fix itself.

He said despite growing technology available, much of the infrastructure used by advisers is still paper based and not fit for purpose. 

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Ferguson said: “We think the platform market is broken and that is compromising advisers.

“We see really strong digital client engagement but at higher costs than necessary. 

“The infrastructure of the industry isn’t serving its purpose. A lot of it is still pretty analogue, it is pretty paper based.”

Ferguson said if platforms do not evolve they will not be able to attract the business of advisers. 

He added: “The only losers are the legacy providers which we think is a fair outcome.

“We can operate right from fintechs to wealth management firms. We think we can run the infrastructure of the industry in a really bold way. 

“And we are trying to say the whole industry should operate in a much more digital way.”

Seccl was bought by Octopus in 2019 and Ruth Handcock, chair at Seccl and CEO of Octopus Money, said the acquisition “made sense”.

She added: “We wanted to find a way Octopus could serve the wealth management industry. 

“What advisers were struggling with was scalability.

“If you have a tech partner, that can facilitate growth in your business.”

Companies can white label the Seccl technology, which has so far been seen by Söderberg & Partners which launched its adviser platform in November and Cooper Parry Wealth which chose Seccl to power its new investment platform CP Accelerate in February.

Ferguson added: “We want to work with the winners. 

“White labelling allows companies to control the user experience, that’s the massive appeal of it.”

tara.o'connor@ft.com

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