Awards Criteria 2018

Customer benefit will be the key criterion for all awards, whether provider or adviser, and rightly so.

Our judges will be looking for candidates that deliver a better product, better value, a better experience to the customer. Where features benefit the intermediary, they must facilitate customer benefit such as lower cost, better service or something innovative and simply better.

In the case of advisers, judges will be looking for those that employ platforms and technology to deliver a better customer proposition.

In short, treating customers fairly will be central to the awards.

  • The platform of the year – 2018

    This award will go to the intermediary platform that the judges deem to have made the greatest advance or been the most innovative in 2018. It may be an established platform that has made great progress or, conceivably, a relatively new platform that has broken new ground.

    The winner may be in the mainstream or successful in a significant segment of the market. The first criterion once again will be around the customer. The judges will be looking for evidence that the customer is at the centre of the proposition. Both sales and service are key measures of success. The winner should demonstrate strong sales in their target market during the previous 12 months, but also demonstrate consistency over a period, as platforms are for the longer term. In addition, they will be expected to demonstrate how they meet an adviser’s due diligence assessment in terms of financial strength and potential longevity. As charges come under increasing pressure, the judges will be looking for evidence of greater efficiency through systems upgrades and process improvements.

    All intermediary platforms are invited to submit

    Judging process: Judging process: Submission followed by interview of the six finalists by our judges in the City of London.

  • Best platform provider (AUM over £15 billion)

    The award for the platform with assets on platform over £15 billion.

    The winner will be the platform that wins the largest number of votes from financial advisers.

  • Best platform provider (AUM up to £15 billion)

    The award for the platform with assets on platform up to £15 billion.

    The winner will be the platform that wins the largest number of votes from financial advisers.

  • Dynamic Planner best platform for adviser service

    This award will go to the platform that gains the highest average score across a number of categories in an adviser survey run throughout the summer by the Personal Finance Society in partnership with Dynamic Planner and Professional Adviser.

  • Leading adviser business (over 10 advisers)

    The judges will be looking for evidence that a first-rate customer offering is supported by the platform(s) and state of the art technology for processes such as research, model portfolios, benchmarking, reviewing, re-balancing and reporting.

    The judges will be looking at total customer cost - asset management, platform and adviser. They will also want to see that the business is successful both in terms of overall turnover and margin.

    The platform may be appropriate for some parts of the firm and not for others. Differing client propositions might necessitate the use of more than one platform. In that case, the judges will be looking for evidence of appropriate client segmentation and informed platform selection following a robust due diligence process.

    Judging process: The judging process will be in two stages. Stage one is in the form of a submission to the judges. The three entrants receiving highest scores will go through to an interview with the judges.

  • Leading adviser practice (up to 10 advisers)

    The judges will be looking for evidence that a first-rate customer offering is supported by the platform(s) and state of the art technology for processes such as research, model portfolios, benchmarking, reviewing, re-balancing and reporting.

    The judges will be looking at total customer cost - asset management, platform and adviser. They will also want to see that the business is successful both in terms of overall turnover and margin.

    Judging process: The judging process will be in two stages. Stage one is in the form of a submission to the judges. The three entrants receiving highest scores will go through to an interview with the judges.

  • Best use of platform technology

    The winners will be the partnership that delivers the best project, demonstrating commercially successful use of technology and offering a superior service either from a customer perspective and/or business results. The judges will be looking at what business capabilities are enhanced, how it integrates with other systems, who are the key users and what are the key functions. They will also be looking at the impact on the business, on customers, market uniqueness, delivery on time and budget plus delivery on the basics such as security, reliability and regulatory compliance.

    Eligibility: Platform managers will be asked to nominate technology providers who have delivered the most successful projects in the last year.

    Judging process: The judging panel will consider the submissions. Awards will be made to the technology provider and the platform.

  • Leading innovation in investor engagement on platforms

    The judges will be looking for the most exciting development in the application of financial technology that encourages both experienced investors and new investors to engage.

    A platform or the core component behind a platform that is a leader in the employment of technology that improves the quality of advice or guidance and that shortens and eases the customer journey, one that customers are delighted to use.

    This may include the use of non-obvious sources of data to add new insights, speed up the process and enrich the investor experience. It may involve the use of algorithms or even artificial intelligence to better inform an investor. Or, it may involve smart and novel ways to engage investors in a way that keeps them coming back to the platform to engage.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to any and all who believe that their proposition meets these criteria.

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel.

  • Leading platform-enabled retirement proposition

    This award is for the leading fully platform-integrated retirement solution - an on-platform retirement proposition that enables the customer to look across and manage all investments together, to enable genuinely holistic investment methodology across tax-wrappers, as well as offering a competitive personal pension proposition.

    Judges will be looking at availability of asset classes on platform (thus property is hardly an issue), charges and functionality. An important criterion is maximum flexibility in all areas from contribution through to withdrawal/drawdown, in whatever form.

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel. 


  • Leading integrated planning tool provider

    This award will be made to the platform and toolset provider that has taken a first class planning tool and integrated it within the platform to provide the best customer solution. The judges will be looking at the business case for the platform as well as adviser and end-customer benefits, such as improved ease-of-use, improved adoption, improved productivity.

    Eligibility: Platform managers will be asked to nominate planning tool providers who have delivered the most successful projects in the last year and complete a submission.

    Judging process: The judging panel will consider the submissions. Awards will be made to the toolset provider and the platform.

  • Leading independent planning tool provider

    This award is for the independent planning tool available to advisers that they most value to support their proposition. It may be an end-to-end solution or a planning tool for one or more links in the advice chain.

    Judging process: The winner will be the planning tool that wins the largest number of votes from advisers.

  • Leading innovation award

    This award may go to a platform, a software provider or a platform related service that breaks new ground, which makes life easier, better, cheaper for the client or the adviser. We are quite simply looking for innovative technology that makes the judges go “Wow!”

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel.

  • Best wealth management platform

    This award is for vertically integrated platforms providing asset management and/or distribution capability. The judges will be looking for a proposition that offers a straightforward solution that meets the requirements of target customers and offers great value for money.

    Suitability and cost will be key to the winning of this award. The platform should enable the adviser to offer a range of portfolios that meet the requirements of their customers in terms of risk. The judges will want to know if the proposition is targeted at lay or experienced investors.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to platforms with manufacturing or distribution capacity or both.

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel.

  • Leading platform for advisers with discretionary propositions

    This award is for the best platform used by advisers with discretionary permissions running bespoke portfolios and/or models, looking for a high level of efficiency in execution and dealing.
The platform should allow whole of market access, including globally listed funds and securities and support detailed investment reporting.

    The platform should enable the adviser firm to offer a range of portfolios that meet the requirements of their customers in terms of risk and outcome.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to those platforms supporting advisers with discretionary permissions.

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel.

  • Leading platform for model portfolio services

    The best platform for advisers running model portfolio services as judged by discretionary managers. This award is for the platform that best supports advisers using model portfolio services (MPS) from discretionary fund managers. The discretionary managers scoring the platforms will be looking for the manager that makes it easiest to set up models, helps the adviser with training and support, offers excellent reporting and has a wide range of assets available.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to all platforms that offer MPS on platform.

    Judging process: Top DFMs will vote on a series of criteria established by leading, specialist consultancy, Discus.

  • Leading innovation in workplace solutions

    The judges will be looking for the most innovative and effective worksite platform; the proposition that meets the needs of members (most crucially), sponsor and adviser and that offers a broad range of benefits and demonstrates success in gaining employees’ awareness and participation. The winner could be a flexible benefits platform, a corporate wrap or other form of benefits hub. 
The judges will be looking for a platform that has shown innovation in attracting employees to the platform whilst demonstrating sound processes and efficient administration and support. 
The winner will have demonstrated innovative use of technology and expertise to build a platform that addresses the challenging issues currently in the workplace market. 
The winner will have established some traction in the market and have demonstrated appeal to customers. The only exception might be a brand new offering that clearly breaks much new ground and one which the judges have total confidence in future success.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to both employee benefit platforms and corporate platforms.

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel.

  • Best institutional platform

    This award will go to the best wholesale platform supplying a fund service to wealth managers, financial institutions and/or pension fund trustees. This is an award for a growing market of those platforms that provide a service to pension funds, on the one hand, and also to those who look after the needs of wealth managers, banks, life companies, stockbrokers etc, on the other.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to both pension and non-pension wholesale platforms.

    Judging process: The award will be judged by submissions to the judging panel.

  • Best strategic platform partner

    This award will go to the best provider of ancillary services to platforms, including white labeling, administration and trade execution. The judges will be looking at the extent to which the service improves the overall platform proposition, paying particular attention to: streamlining processes, improving the client journey and broadening the platform services or asset reach. The service should offer a high level of integration and automation with the platform.

    Eligibility: The award will be open to those providers who can demonstrate that they have significantly improved and/or supported the primary activities or operation of a Platform.

  • Leading platform journalist

    This award will be presented to the journalist who has penned the most informed, interesting or newsworthy articles or series of articles on the platform sector during 2016.

    Eligibility: Editors and publishers will be asked to submit articles or a series of articles to the judges that they feel are worthy of the award.

    Judging process: The articles will be judged by the judging panel.

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