New adviser platform entrant Fundment has introduced more fee flexibility, allowing advisers to set different fees for individual clients and accounts.
Fees can be set either as a percentage of assets or as a fixed amount.
One client might agree to an annual fixed fee with their adviser, while another client might agree to a percentage charge for one wrapper, and a fixed fee for another.
The tool, called ‘Adviser Fee Flexibility’, also lets advisers create fee schedules, set default fees and manage a bird’s eye view of all current and projected clients fees within their account.
Alongside AFF, the platform has launched another tool, called Advisory Portfolio Management.
It allows advisers to contact clients en masse who are invested in specific portfolios, giving them similar controls to those enjoyed by discretionary managers.
Once an adviser has amended a portfolio, they are shown all the clients connected to it and invited to contact them in one go to request their approval.
Clients receive an email asking them to log into their account, review, and approve via DocuSign.
Advisers can then track which clients have accepted, send reminders and, if necessary, approve an amendment on a client’s behalf.
Both AFF and the APM tool have gone live with advisers in recent weeks.
“Advisers should have full control of their fees at both a firm and client level,” said Fundment’s chief executive, Ola Abdul.
“We also know that manually obtaining individual client consent for a simple amendment can be tedious.
“We are an adviser-led platform and we know these two changes will make a real difference to advisers.”
Abdul added that much of what Fundment develops stems from a single conversation with an adviser.
“Whether it’s adding depth to our existing platform, making a process simpler, or doing something completely new, where we can help advisers, we will.”
Having launched with its first advice firm user back in 2018, Fundment really started gaining traction among advisers when the UK went into its first lockdown in 2020.
When FTAdviser spoke to Abdul in June, the platform provider was nearing 300 advice firm customers, which ranged from national to mid-size firms.
Fundment is a self-sufficient platform service provider - much like how established platforms operate.
Although it can also accommodate advice firms which wish to set up and run their own PSP, complete with the regulatory responsibilities this entails.
But unlike established platforms which outsource their technology to the likes of FNZ, GBST, and Bravura, Fundment owns all its own technology - including all the tax wrappers.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
