The new cash management tools have been designed to make it easier for advisers to manage their client portfolios. Specifically they make cash movements easier to set up and manage in order to facilitate adviser charges, platform charges and income withdrawals, a particular benefit following the increase in income drawdown as a result of the pension freedoms.
The tools enable advisers to:
• view an at-a-glance summary of transactions in and out of client accounts
• create one-off and regular cash transfers between a client’s SIPP cash account and their Funds & Shares Service cash account, or vice versa
• create and manage cash movements within the platform and regular disinvestments
There are no additional administration charges for using the tools, and no dealing charges for regular disinvestment transactions that are established using them.
The new tools are part of a series of enhancements over the last 12 months which included improved data downloads to adviser back office systems, comprehensive information on payments made to clients and enhanced reporting for portfolio performance analysis.
Future expansion of the platform this year will include the launch of a managed portfolio service based on low-cost passive funds.
Billy Mackay, marketing director at AJ Bell, comments:
“We have invested retained profits back into the platform over many years and continue to do that to ensure it evolves in line with the changing needs of advisers and their clients. We want to deliver functionality that makes it as easy as possible for financial advisers to manage their client’s investments. Cash management has increased in importance following the RDR and the pension freedoms so this fits well with that aim.”