More smoothed funds should be made available on platforms to give advisers better choice, according to Nick Henshaw, head of intermediaries distribution at Wesleyan.
Speaking to FT Adviser, Henshaw said Wesleyan is ready to go on more platforms after launching its With Profits Growth fund on Novia in 2021, with it since being added to Nucleus Wrap and Abrdn Wrap.
Henshaw said: “If platforms are generally advisers’ preferred route to administer client assets, then ourselves and other smooth fund providers need to operate where the advisers want to do all their client work.
“If we can’t get those two things together, then we will be failing the adviser and their businesses.
“So, hopefully, there will be more of the smooth fund providers appearing on platforms over time, and hopefully that will happen in the not too distant future.”
Wesleyan is planning on getting its with-profits fund on more platforms to reach more advisers.
The change in how we apply the smoothing mechanism is the nub of why it is becoming more popular again
Henshaw said he wants to see the with-profits world become “as simple as possible”.
He joined Wesleyan in April 2021 at the end of the company’s work to redesign its with-profits fund to “fit neatly” onto platforms.
Henshaw said: “We did plenty of work on getting the name around, and reintroducing with-profits as the latest incarnation of what has been around for 100 years, but has changed beyond all recognition in recent years.”
He said smoothed funds were “extremely popular” with advisers in the late 90s ahead of the “longest market crash in history” from 2000-2003.
Henshaw said this period left a “sour taste”, which can still be felt, he admitted.
He said the funds that were strong enough to keep going and recovered have become more popular as time has gone on.
“The change in how we apply the smoothing mechanism is the nub of why it is becoming more popular again,” said Henshaw.
“It has had a really great reception, because advisers have been wanting something that has low volatility but high exposure to real assets, so that combination, generally speaking, it’s a bit of an ideal.”
tara.o’connor@ft.com
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