2022 Platform Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis Report: Platforms have this year explicitly focused on cybersecurity
Paul McGivern
Leading research firm Investment Trends has released its 2022 Platform Benchmarking and Competitive Analysis Report, now in its 19th year.
For overall platform functionality ranking, HUB24 just edged out Netwealth to reclaim the top spot in overall platform functionality. Industry-wide, the five top-ranking full-function platforms are:
- HUB24 (overall score of 91.5%)
- Netwealth (90.7%)
- Praemium (89.9%)
- BT Panorama (84.7%)
- Mason Stevens (83.3%)
All platforms have delivered a significant breadth of new functionality over the last twelve months. Mason Stevens posted the largest relative increase in score for the second consecutive year, closely followed by Praemium and HUB24, respectively.
“All platforms have particularly sharpened their focus on the investment menu,” said Paul McGivern, Director at Investment Trends.
Managed accounts continue to appeal to advisers for the benefits they provide to both clients and advisers, and platforms have significantly expanded the number of models and managers they offer, as well as editing and tax optimisation tools to enable greater adoption.
ESG is another area that has received a great deal of attention. “This year, several platforms have introduced new integrations with third-party ESG ratings and analytics providers, as well as reporting and other resources to support the provision of ESG advice,” explains McGivern.
“Last but certainly not least, retirement income has been at the centre of a range of initiatives by a number of platforms,” added McGivern. “This has translated into a material step up in the range of annuities, capital-protected funds, and longevity protection funds added to the investment menu, as well as the development of new retirement calculators and modelling tools.
When it comes to cybersecurity, all signs point to the fact that platforms are adopting a staged approach. “2022 saw all platforms implementing multifactor authentication (MFA), but we believe this is only the beginning,” says McGivern. “Some providers are already exploring behaviour-based alerting to improve their cybersecurity measures – this will certainly be an interesting area to continue to monitor.”
