But he adds platforms can grow simply in line with the wider savings market.
Gunby says he believes there is “between £2tn and £3tn of assets out there between pots after auto-enrolment and cash savings that can be invested on platforms, and with pension regulations as they are, more and more of those assets are going to end up on platforms every year.”
He says existing advisers that use the Transact platform, placing new client money onto it accounts for 60 per cent of the inflows, something he believes validates the notion that demand for advice continues to grow and therefore so will demand for the services of platforms, even if that means there are periods of volatility as markets fall.
The UK adviser platform market was to a large extent shaped by a handful of dominant personalities who rode the wave of rising markets and rapid technological change.
The next iteration is taking place when all of those personalities have exited the stage, and the factors that powered that growth are diminished; in that changed world the actions of Gunby and the new generation of platform bosses will sharply impact advisers' lives for many years to come.
David Thorpe is investment editor at FTAdviser
