Platform Leaders, Laggards, Leapfroggers and Lynchpins
Fundscape's new report, Platform Leaders, Laggards, Leapfroggers and Lynchpins, its definitive annual review of the UK adviser platform market, is now available. Drawing on 20 years of proprietary platform data, the report is written by a team that has spent careers immersed in the platform market, with deep relationships across the industry and an unrivalled understanding of what drives platform growth, stagnation and decline.
The UK adviser platform market is consolidating, repricing and reinventing itself at speed. Platforms are being bought, sold, merged and re-engineered. Assets are concentrating. Advisers are moving. The cost of backing the wrong platform has never been higher.
What's inside
Every platform chapter covers the same ground – where they are, how they got there, what they are getting right, what they are getting wrong and what comes next. No boilerplate and no press releases dressed up as analysis.
- Key developments in 2025. Everything that moved the needle over the past year.
- Platform overview & DNA. Ownership, technology, product range, distribution, wrappers and investments.
- Performance metrics. Assets, asset growth, gross and net flows, net-to-gross ratios, market share trends and more.
- SWOT analysis. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for every platform. Written to be useful rather than polite.
- House view & classification. Leader, laggard, leapfrogger or lynchpin. Fundscape's verdict on where each platform stands – and why.
- Five-year projections. Pessimistic, realistic and optimistic growth scenarios for every platform out to 2030. The long view the market is missing.
The four classifications
- Leader. Pulling away from the pack. Growing assets, growing share, growing confidence.
- Laggard. Bleeding assets. Losing advisers. Running out of road.
- Leapfrogger. Moving faster than the market expects. Worth watching closely.
- Lynchpin. Solid. Dependable. Quietly getting on with it. Not setting the world alight.
Who it's for
Platforms How do you look to the outside world? Where do you rank, and against whom? Whether you're preparing investor materials, benchmarking your position or making the case internally for investment, this is the independent view of the market that no internal dataset can replicate.
Consolidators, advice nationals and networks. Panel decisions, platform reviews and due diligence demand more than marketing collateral. This is an independent, data-driven reference that advisers and compliance teams can rely on.
MPS, DFMs and asset managers. Flows don't lie. Know which platforms are growing, which are shrinking and why – and where to concentrate distribution effort for maximum return.
Private equity houses. Sizing up a platform acquisition? Stress-testing a portfolio company's competitive position? The five-year projections and house view give you a starting point that no Information Memorandum will.
Order your copy today.
Download the table of contents here. Download a platform extract here.
This is not any report. This is a Fundscape report.
The Platform Report (quarterly)
The adviser platform market is large, complex and perpetually in motion. The Platform Report is Fundscape's flagship quarterly publication tracking the full breadth of the UK platform sector.
Each edition provides a comprehensive picture of where assets are sitting, where money is flowing and which platforms are winning or losing ground. Beyond the headline figures, the report goes deeper – in-depth analysis gives subscribers the context needed to understand what the numbers actually mean.
This is a closed user group report. Platforms must provide actual sales and asset data to participate and sign a confidentiality agreement.
In addition to providing comprehensive platform data, one of the report's most distinctive features is its coverage of fund groups and funds. Platforms share their share-class data, which allows Fundscape to build an aggregate view of the fund groups and individual funds attracting the most business through the platform channel. For asset managers, this is intelligence that is genuinely difficult to find elsewhere.
If you would like to subscribe, please get in touch. All subscribers need to sign a confidentiality agreement.
The Platinum Database (quarterly)
Fundscape’s paper-based Platform Report allows subscribers to monitor platform trends on a quarterly (and static) basis, providing unique insight into current developments. But using it to monitor longer-term trends is difficult without re-keying numbers into spreadsheets… until now, that is. Housing all data collated since 2006, Fundscape is pleased to present the Platinum database. This tool does away with the need to re-key data and provides subscribers with access to historical platform data and trends.
Platinum subscribers can view their full data history, previous data submissions as well as monitor key competitor, product and proposition trends. Using the intuitive report functionality, they can interrogate the database to generate reports on assets, gross and net sales for any time period by platform, by product or by type of platform.
Platinum operates under the same confidentiality terms as the Platform Report.
The Distribution Report (quarterly)
The UK retail wealth market doesn't stand still, and neither should you. Published quarterly, the Fundscape Distribution Report is the essential read for anyone who needs to quickly understand how money is moving through the UK investment distribution landscape and why.
Each issue cuts through the noise to deliver authoritative analysis, hard data and sharp commentary across the three channels that matter in a concise and pithy report: financial advice, discretionary fund management and D2C platforms. From the consolidation deals reshaping the advice market to the index funds dominating DFM portfolios, we tell you what's happening, what it means and what comes next.
For time-poor industry professionals, it's the quickest way to keep your finger on the pulse of the UK retail wealth management industry. In less than 30 minutes, you'll be fully up to speed on the trends, the data and the deals that are shaping the UK landscape.
Whether you are a fund group tracking your competitive position, a platform monitoring market share, an asset manager trying to understand where flows are going, or an adviser firm benchmarking itself against peers, this report gives you the data and the context to make better decisions. The report uses actual data from Fundscape and Finscape.
Direct Matters (quarterly)
The UK's direct investment market has never moved faster, or mattered more. Direct Matters is Fundscape's quarterly deep-dive into the D2C platform sector, covering every significant player from the household names at the top of the asset table to the ETF-focused challengers snapping at their heels.
Each edition tracks assets under administration, gross and net flows, customer numbers and market share across the full competitive set – D2C platforms, online discretionary investment managers and digital wealth apps. We follow the money, but we also follow the strategy. Technology overhauls, pricing resets, brand campaigns, regulatory responses and M&A activity all get the Fundscape treatment.
The market closed 2025 with assets through the £500bn mark for the first time. Understanding what is driving that growth and who is best placed to capture it, is precisely what Direct Matters is for.
What's inside:
- Assets, gross and net flow data for all tracked platforms, with quarter-on-quarter and year-to-date benchmarks
- Individual platform profiles covering performance, proposition changes, marketing activity and strategic direction
- Intelligence on emerging players and new market entrants, strategy and technology
Direct Matters launched in Q4 2020 and has quickly established itself as the reference report for anyone with a serious interest in the direct investment market, in much the same way Fundscape's Platform Report became indispensable for the adviser market.
Competitor Assessment Reports (CARs)
In the highly competitive platform industry, monitoring, assessing and staying ahead of your competition is critical to success. But with resources tight as a drum, it's difficult to gather the data you need to monitor your rivals closely. What's more, gathering and collating data on your peers can leave little time for the things that really matter — your platform proposition and strategy.
Fundscape's range of Competitor Analysis Reports (CARs) is designed to take the weight off your teams and provide fresh, timely and detailed analytical reports on your competitors, freeing your team to concentrate on what matters — developing a long-term, sustainable future for your platform.
Published in landscape format, the CARs are a unique, content rich mix of commentary, data and charts covering the following:
- Summary overview
- The platform Ps (proposition, product, pricing, penetration, profitability etc)
- Historical trends
- Product and channel analysis
- Competitor dashboard
- Key financial indicators and analysis
- SWOT analysis
- Commentary, insight and much more...
Competitively priced (£3,000 for the first one with a 10% discount for each additional report), the CARs can be tailored to suit your needs:
- Compare and contrast competitor data with your own
- Select different competitors in the dashboards
- Use your own CAR as an independent overview to be shared with the board, clients, fund groups and future prospects.
The Consolidators Report, 2026
Consolidators are the talk of the town. Supported by private equity, they acquire advice businesses and centralise operations to achieve economies of scale and, of course, improve profitability. The trend has the potential to reshape the UK financial advice industry with far-reaching consequences for platforms, asset managers, and investment solution providers. Our latest report provides in-depth insights into the challenges and opportunities for key stakeholders.
- Key consolidation drivers including regulatory pressures, succession planning, and private equity investment.
- In-depth review of leading consolidators — size, business model, investment and platform preferences.
- How consolidators influence platform selection, pricing structures and technology integration.
- How consolidators’ growing influence is reshaping flows, investment selection criteria and distribution dynamics.
- Future trends and strategic considerations – how businesses can adapt to remain competitive.
- All data as at December 2024.
Who should read this report?
- Platforms
- Asset managers
- Model portfolio providers and discretionary fund managers
- Private equity houses and investors evaluating investment in the sector.
Why this report matters
The rise of consolidators is redefining industry relationships and operational models. Whether you're a platform, fund manager, or investment provider, staying ahead of these developments is crucial for strategic decision-making.
Order your copy today.
The Consolidators Report is available end April 2025. Download the table of contents and an extract of the exec summary here.
This is not any report, this is a Fundscape report.
How to win business and influence model portfolios, 2025
It’s a tough market out there. The cost of living is up, and investment flows are down. And then there are the changing investment trends… model portfolios now account for c70% of retailed advised platform flows, so if your funds aren’t included in model portfolios, then you’re potentially missing out on substantial flows. And that’s before the gloom and doom of the current environment!
Discretionary fund managers used to be the main providers of model portfolios, but now platforms, fund managers, research houses, and even advice firms are getting in on the action. How do you get noticed? Does one size fit all or do you need to tailor your approach depending on the distributor type? How do you do business in this highly competitive market?
How to win business and influence model portfolios is the definitive guide to the UK's model portfolio activity. High on quant, full of qualitative colour and enriched with adviser, platform and fund manager insights:
- The size, scope and market share of the model portfolio sector
- Distribution trends
- Discretionary v advised model portfolios
- Model portfolios on platforms
- Leading gatekeepers (the model portfolio providers)
- Leading model portfolios by assets and performance
- What model portfolio providers want from fund managers (key selection criteria)
- What advisers want from models
- Growth forecasts
- All data as at December 2024
- And much more!
Pre-order your copy today.
This report is available mid March 2025.
To order your copy use the order button below.
Consultancy
We also undertake bespoke work and consultancy projects. We have experience of helping clients across a wide range of areas including strategy, product development, market analysis, entry strategies etc. Please contact us to discuss your requirements. Click here for the contacts page.