New stats on the financial services D2C market

The latest report from The Platforum again contains some interesting statistics:

• 40% of active investors take care of their investments on their own, while 26% consult an adviser and the remaining 34% rely on an adviser.
• Of the 40% who take care of their investments on their own 65% say they're interested and happy to spend time on it. Of the rest, 25% don't enjoy it and the remaining 9% find it confusing and complicated.
• Consumer awareness of platforms is up from 31% to 38%. Awareness of Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity Funds Network and Cofunds are up, but awareness of Skandia is down. Awareness of 'other' platforms is up by more, in both relative and absolute terms, than is awareness of any of the afore-named platforms.
• General financial websites, blogs and forums have at last overtaken independent financial advisers and brokers as active investors' chosen sources of information. Traditional media and providers' or distributors' websites lag well behind.
• The number of active investors who expect to buy from either a platform, bank or building society branch and/or financial adviser or broker are all up, but interestingly the number who expect to buy direct from an investment company is down.

As advisers and providers consider what will happen when the provisions of the RDR come into force, they would do well to factor these statistics into their plans to defend their existing customer base,or to grow their customer base and expand into new areas.