Just 13% of the 557 advisers participating in a Skandia survey said they would not be conducting further due diligence work this year.
Charges are deemed the most important area for consideration in platform due diligence, being selected by 43% of advisers, followed by platform functionality which was highlighted by 16% of participants.
The reputation and financial standing of the platform itself was cited as the top consideration by 13% of advisers.
Fund range, asset class range, accessibility and additional tools are deemed less important, scoring 7%, 4% and 1% respectively.
From April 2014 advisers are obliged scrutinise platform providers more carefully, to ensure they have met all requirements of the paper and do not present products with bias.
Michael Barrett, platform marketing manager at Skandia, said:“There is now an increased onus on advisers to assess platform capabilities as a result of the recent platform paper. Despite the requirements of PS13/1 not coming into play until next year, it is already clear that advisers are including this now in any due diligence assessments being made, in addition to the nine factors the FCA already require to be considered.”
The FCA unveiled its platform paper at the end of April, but was deemed an anti-climax by many.
