Winners 2020

Past Winners:

  • Platform of the year - 2020

    Winner: A J Bell Investcentre

    Sponsored by Schroders.

    The winner knows exactly what they are and where they are going. They have been knocking on the door of this award for some time. They adapted to the post Covid world quickly with an uninterrupted service to advisers and clients who didn't notice a blip in service levels.

    In third place: Parmenion

    In second place and highly commended: Nucleus

  • Best Platform Provider (AUM £25 Billion Or More)

    Winner: Standard Life Wrap

    Sponsored by Winterflood Business Services.

    The winner was found by asking those who use the platforms, the advisers, to vote.

    In second place: Old Mutual Wealth

    In third place: Transact

  • Best platform provider AUM up to £25 billion

    Winner: Standard Life Elevate

    Sponsored by PA

    The winner was found by asking those who use the platforms, the advisers, to vote.

    In second place: Aviva Platform

    In third place: Parmenion

  • The NextWealth award for best platform service

    Winner: Standard Life Wrap

    Sponsored by NextWealth

    Advisers voted on four different categories of service on a scale of poor to excellent. The winner is the platform that achieves the highest average score.

    In second place: Old Mutual Wealth

    In third place: Transact

  • Leading Adviser Business

    Winner: Paradigm Norton

    Sponsored by Aegon.

    The winner has set the pace in financial planning for a couple of decades; they plan for longevity and succession; their business is now owned by their staff, they set a benchmark for others to aspire to.

    In second place: Aspect 8

  • Leading Adviser Practice

    Winner: Murphy Wealth

    Sponsored by FNZ.

    The winner this year is a firm investing in technology to add to the human experience so that the advisers can spend more time with their clients doing their job and also a firm that makes a contribution to those less fortunate than themselves.

    In second place and highly commended: First Wealth

  • Leading Adviser for ESG Investment

    Winner: EQ Investors

    Sponsored by Morningstar

    The winners are a well resourced top quality advice business offering a very full range of services but who are full signed up to ESG and sustainable investment. They are both a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Investment and a registered B Corps.

    In second place: LIFT Financial Group

  • Best Use of Platform Technology

    Winner: Aviva Platform & FE fundinfo

    Sponsored by 7IM

    Client reporting is a key task for advisers’ and the judges felt that the winner’s technology made this a much smother process. There has been much good feedback from advisers who value the improved user experience and the flexibility to tailor reporting for each client.

    Runner Up: Standard Life and FNZ

  • Leading Digital Platform

    Winner: Open Money

    Sponsored by Standard Life

    The winning platform turns away would be customers telling them to pay off debt first. The judges love what this platform and what its CEO is doing - looking after the less well off, people other platforms don't want to deal with, and extending to workplace and mortgages.

    In second place: PensionBee

  • Leading Retirement Proposition

    Winner: A J Bell Investcentre

    Sponsored by RSMR

    The winner offers a low cost simplified pension alongside their SIPP with two sets of charges plus excellent adviser support. Under the ESG heading, the judges liked their support through the Covid crisis with no furloughing of staff and their Wage War on Covid fund.

    In second place and highly commended: 7IM

  • Leading Independent Planning Tool Provider

    Winner: Dynamic Planner

    Sponsored by Raymond James Investment Services

    The winner’s entry really stood out giving clients what they want, including integration across back office systems and avoiding re-keying. They have listened to advisers. It ticks the boxes on all criteria.

    In second place and highly commended: PortfolioMetrix

  • Leading investment research, ratings and data provider

    Winner: FE fundinfo

    Sponsored by Wealthtime

    This award reflects the growing significance of funds data and research to advisers. The winner was found by asking those who use these applications, the advisers, to vote.

    In second place: Morningstar

  • The Leading innovation award

    Winner: Be-IQ

    Sponsored by FundsNetwork

    Our winner is a leader in the field of behavioral finance. They address risk profiling in a totally different way that works not only in advised businesses but also in a digital environment going as far as identifying potentially vulnerable customers.

    In second place: PensionBee

  • Best wealth management platform

    Winner: 7IM

    Sponsored by Dunstan Thomas

    The winner offers a flexible approach to wealth management with a broad range of in house and external investments, has a clear target market and competitive charges.

    In second place: Old Mutual Wealth

  • Leading platform for discretionary management

    Winner: 7IM

    Sponsored by Bravura Solutions

    The judges liked the fact that that the winner was vey clear on its target market, advisers with high net worth clients running a discretionary proposition plus the fact that they are cost neutral in terms of assets offered.

    In second place and highly commended: Parmenion

  • Leading platform for model portfolio services

    Winner: Standard Life Wrap

    Sponsored by FE fundinfo

    A set of criteria was created by the NextWealth, which leading discretionary managers then scored to find the winner.

    In second place: Aviva Platform

  • Leading innovation in workplace solutions

    Winner: Moneyhub

    Sponsored by BNY Mellon/Pershing

    The judges said that open finance and open banking changed the game. The winner is truly innovative and looks at all aspects of finances in the round; the winner is the Intel Inside of many excellent guided solutions.

    In second place and highly commended: WorkLife by Open Money

  • Best institutional platform

    Winner: Allfunds

    Sponsored by Calastone

    The winner offers an extremely good trading solution with a high constancy of service and very good tools.

    In second place: BNY Mellon l Pershing

  • Best strategic platform partner

    Winner: BNY Mellon l Pershing

    Sponsored by Praemium

    The winner is strong on process, security and due diligence; they have expanded their range of products and are very strong on ESG. One of the judges commented that their CEO is genuinely committed to issues such as equality and diversity unlike many who just talk about these issues.

    In second place: Winterflood Business Services

  • Leading Platform Journalist

    Winner: Jack Gilbert

    Sponsored by SS&C.

    The winner has consistently shown a breadth of contacts and depth of understanding of the UK platform market. Breaking a number of new stories in the last year, he continues to provide balanced and intelligent commentary on our industry.

    In second equal place: Jessica Tasman-Jones, Kristen McGachey and Sebastian Cheek