Paul McGivern

The Investment Trends 2023 Platform Benchmarking Report showcases the significant enhancements made by investment platforms in 2023 to support advisers in the provision of advice to clients, as well as assisting them to continue to grow and de-risk their businesses.

For overall platform functionality ranking, HUB24 narrowly ranked ahead of Netwealth to maintain the top spot. Industry-wide, the five top-ranking full-function platforms are:

1. HUB24 (overall score of 92.6%)
2. Netwealth (92.1%)
3. Praemium (90.0%)
4. BT Panorama (86.2%)
5. Mason Stevens (84.3%)

A new offering to the market through CFS – CFS Edge has been showcased in the research, highlighting the current competitive and innovative features available market.

All platforms have again delivered a significant scope of new functionality over the last twelve months. AMP North registered the largest increase in score, with a significant range of enhancements delivered across several areas.

“Investment Trends has for the first time in 2023 included a new assessment category for Retirement Solutions, consistent with the urgency noted by regulators and policymakers,” said Paul McGivern, Director at Investment Trends. “It was rather evident in our review that all platforms have sharpened their focus on this important area, with their holistic approach encompassing product, calculators, claims processing and education.”

Managed accounts again featured as a key area of development with the continued expansion of models and managers offered, as well as a growing shift towards supporting partner-build models and client-level customisation.

With demand for cash products and functionality having soared, platforms have swiftly responded with a range of creative solutions to help advisers offer the best rates and improved flexibility of access to funds.

“We have witnessed in 2023 a sharp contrast between the UK and Australia when it comes to net flows into platforms. We can’t help but attribute – at least in part – the strong performance of Australian platforms to the agility in identifying the growing demand for the asset class and the timely solutions deployed to address it,” added McGivern.

As platforms continue to expand their functionality, education and support for advisers and their staff has become a key area of focus. This year, platforms have added significant educational resources both online and in person to ensure users are empowered to extract the most from their platform’s capabilities.

Cybersecurity again saw a wide range of enhancements in 2023 with particular focus on a range of authentication steps implemented along the adviser/client workflow. “The challenge for platforms here”, said McGivern “is to strike the right balance between appropriate and effective protection and minimal friction.”

This year’s review also showcases the newly launched CFS Edge wrap platform, built on FNZ OneX infrastructure. “Across our very extensive set of criteria, we have found CFS Edge has harmoniously blended sophistication and affordability, while maintaining a focus on operational efficiency for advisers,” offered McGivern.

Notes to the editor

About the report:

The Investment Trends 2023 Platform Benchmarking & Competitive Analysis Report is based on detailed review and audit of the features and functionality offered to planners by leading investment platforms in Australia, assessed across more than 500 different criteria.

Functional items are given weightings to reflect their relative importance to advisers, based on Investment Trends’ ongoing annual detailed quantitative surveys that track advisers’ platform and product preferences.

About Investment Trends: 

Investment Trends is the leading researcher in the retail online share dealing and leveraged trading markets globally. We combine our analytical rigour and strategic thinking with the most advanced research and statistical techniques to help our clients gain competitive advantage. We have over 20 years’ experience in researching the retail wealth management and global broking markets from which we provide new insights and decision-making support to over 130 leading financial service businesses globally. Investment Trends’ clients include several global banking organisations, all major online brokers and CFD providers as well as industry regulators, advice providers, fund managers, super funds, investment platform providers, and industry associations.

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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:

1. HUB24 (overall score of 91.5%)
2. Netwealth (90.7%)
3. Praemium (89.9%)
4. BT Panorama (84.7%)
5. 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.”

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