Hymne Landman | Rethinking the role of the investment platform

Investment choice has expanded significantly. Financial advisers and their clients now have access to a broad range of investment managers, asset classes, investment structures and local and global opportunities.

Choice matters because every client has unique goals, circumstances and priorities. Yet more choice also creates more complexity.

The question is no longer simply whether investors have enough options. Rather, it is whether advisers can bring those options together in a way that provides a clear view of the client’s overall investment strategy and supports informed decision-making as circumstances change.

The challenge is to bring greater choice together without creating a fragmented investment experience for either the adviser or client.

Consolidation is not concentration

There is an important distinction between investment concentration and platform consolidation.

Concentration relates to where a client’s money is invested and the exposures within a portfolio. Consolidation, by contrast, relates to how an adviser brings the different parts of an investment strategy together, administers them and maintains a coherent view.

Bringing investments together through one investment platform does not mean sacrificing diversification. A client could still invest across different markets, asset classes and investment structures while those investments are administered through one platform. This distinction sits at the heart of Momentum Wealth’s ‘The power of one’ campaign.

This matters because financial lives rarely fit neatly into a single product or objective. A client may be building retirement capital, investing towards a child’s education and creating offshore exposure simultaneously. Each goal requires individual consideration, yet the adviser still needs to understand how the pieces fit together.

The value of consolidation lies in connection, not restriction.

Personalisation without fragmentation

Personalisation is sometimes reduced to selecting different products for different needs. I believe it extends far beyond that.

A personal investment strategy should reflect the client’s life stage, tax position, family circumstances and long-term aspirations. These factors change over time, so the strategy needs to remain relevant as the client’s life changes.

A connected investment platform does not mean every client follows the same investment journey. The platform provides an environment in which the adviser applies professional judgement to different investment choices and structures an approach around the individual.

The practical question for advisers is therefore simple: Does my investment platform help me bring a client’s different needs together without forcing those needs into a single solution?

That question matters because the platform increasingly forms part of how advice is implemented and experienced.

Technology should return time to advice

The same principle applies to technology. Technology has value when it removes friction.

Investment platforms have moved beyond basic administration. More efficient digital processes and access to information should reduce the administrative burden on advisers and create more time for advice and client relationships.

This became particularly clear to me when we discussed the thinking behind ‘The power of one’. The adviser’s challenge isn’t a lack of investment information. Instead, it is the time and administrative effort involved when advisers work across multiple products, processes and platforms.

This gives the idea of ‘one’ a practical meaning. It is not one investment, one manager or one prescribed strategy. It is about creating a more connected environment in which an adviser manages multiple strategies and maintains a clearer view of the client’s portfolio. That is also how the adviser proposition is expressed in the campaign material.

Technology should support the advice relationship. The platform provides administration, information and an environment for implementation. The adviser understands the client, considers the trade-offs and keeps the investment strategy connected to the client’s circumstances.

What should advisers ask now?

Platform selection should therefore go beyond asking how many products or investment options are available.

Advisers should examine where complexity sits in their practices and whether their platform of choice reduces or adds to it.

Four questions are worth asking:

• Does it give me a connected view of my client’s investments?
• Does it help me manage different investment strategies efficiently?
• Does it support the client as needs and circumstances change?
• Does it give me more time to focus on advice and client relationships

As investment choice grows, simplicity should not mean settling for fewer options. It should mean finding a better way to bring those options together around the client.

*Hymne Landman, CEO at Momentum Wealth.