Following the hire of Mahon to spearhead its push into the UK & Ireland, announced yesterday, Allfunds intends to springboard off the back of the FCA platform paper – finally released last week.
Jaime Perez-Maura, director of business development at the company, said: “We are going to hire more people. Mahon will be the key man for us in the UK and currently there are two searches going on: one to head relationships with asset management houses and another to cover the operational side.”
He said until now many companies had been holding off finalising business plans because they were unsure of what the FCA Platform paper would contain.
High margins cannot last
“Many conversations were delayed from the client side and now the paper is out we will be keen to do more business. We will position ourselves as we have tried to as loyal and committed to the B2B market. We do not go directly to the client.”
Allfunds has £80bn (€94bn) in assets under administration which Perez-Maura said gives it leverage to operate aggressively in the UK. Mahon will not start until October and pricing will have to be defined over the next few months, but from Perez Maura’s perspective “high margins like 25bps, which platforms used to have in the past, cannot last”.
Consolidation is inevitable as in the new regulatory environment the cost structures of some other platforms have are pretty demanding and require a lot of resources.
The initial reception of the FCA platform paper was favourable by most platforms as it was seen to be in line with expectations.
However, two of the biggest platforms in the UK – Skandia and Standard Life – have decided to go for very different business models. A unit rebate system vs. no rebates at all, which of the giants do you think is right?
