Welcome to our Progress Report wrap up, covering everything from platform developments to updates to our investment offering. This is your one stop shop to find out what we’ve delivered to make your and your clients’ lives easier in 2024.
A year of continuous improvement
2024 was another year of transformation and development, driven by the tireless efforts of our product, investment and delivery teams. We continued our mission to empower advisers and enrich the platform and investment experience, successfully launching multiple initiatives spanning diverse functionalities, but our commitment to innovation extended far beyond.
Underneath the platform's bonnet, over 400 features and small enhancements took root, representing over 630,000 lines of code changed to streamline your workflows and improve the platform experience. This dedication to consistent development is made possible by customer feedback loop and rapid release cycle. Every two weeks fresh features and enhancements are deployed with virtually no platform downtime.
📘 Improved quarterly solution reports – In January, we launched a suite of new investment reports to support you and your conversations with clients. These covered everything from what’s been going on in markets, to the solutions’ performance and risk and much more. And for our ethical and ESG solutions exposure, we added reporting on carbon intensity, and engagement. See our latest Quarterly Solution Reports here.
📰 New Regular Market Insights - 2024 saw the launch of a bunch of new investment insights:
- Our Weekly Market Updates give you a breakdown of the key market events.
- Then, every two weeks our ESG insights delve into the latest key events in ESG investing.
- And finally, Peter Dalgliesh, Chief Investment Officer shares his latest thinking in our regular CIO Updates.
📕 New look Investment Management reports – In October, we redesigned our Investment Management Report (IMR) to make it clearer and easier on the eye. We started with the IMRs produced using the platform's Top up tool. That way we can gather feedback before rolling out wider. You can see the new and improved IMR here
↔️ Updates to New Money Pending screen – In February we updated the New Money Pending screen with clearer, more consistent updates. You can now see where the money is and when it was last chased. And for in specie transfers you can see a breakdown of individual fund progress, including conversions. Read more.
📒 Enhanced CGT reporting – In March we updated the tax packs to be generated at client level rather than portfolio level, making CGT planning easier for you and your clients.
📜 Bulk realised gains reports – March also saw updates to the realised gains report with an option to include all GIA portfolios.
🧾 LSA – In April we updated the platform and key literature to align with the new Lump Sum Allowance regime - with new processes, and information to support your financial planning. You can find out more about this here.
And as a fast follower, we updated the SIPP allowances on the Investment Details page, based on adviser feedback.
📊 Updates to vantage – In May we added a New Business tab under the My Business section of Vantage. This includes the number and value of items in the pipeline, transfer in values and more. Plus a new Access tab was added to My Team to show adviser and paraplanner names, whether or not they have MFA enabled, and their last login. More on this here.
🔔 Improved notifications – In May we also made improvements to our platform notifications. You can now search and filter notifications to make them more manageable. Archive functionality also came shortly after in July.
📥 Better transaction updates – In July we made some big updates to the client dashboard to show:
- If a transfer is in progress or completed for that portfolio.
- How much we’re expecting and what we’ve received so far.
- Links to transaction notes and fund transfer status where available.
More on this one here.
📈 In July we also made ETFs available on platform for in specie transfers.
💸 New ways to make payments using Open Banking – October was a bumper month, kicking off with the launch of a new online payment option, Payit. Available on the Top up tool for launch, Payit is an award-winning technology, offered by NatWest, that allows your clients to quickly and easily top up their accounts using their online bank of choice.
🪜 Tiered adviser charging functionality – October then saw the release of this hotly requested feature. Allowing advisers to create tiered charging structures with different percentage rates for both new and existing clients. Then, easily link clients to the appropriate structure and move them between tiers as needed. And with access detailed charge reports to effortlessly track client allocations and fee structures. Read more here.
🔒 MFA rollout – We then rounded off our October platform updates with the rollout of Multi-Factor Authentication across all our users, to encourage uptake of this critical security feature. Opted-out? It’s still easy to turn it on. Read more on this and why it’s important here.
📂 Annual review data download – In early December we added a new downloadable report to help with your annual client reviews. The CSV file is customisable allowing you to choose different information depending on your needs. Find out more here.
👨👩👧👦 Client Grouping – And to round off the year, we’re delighted to have just launched Client Grouping. Client grouping combines the total portfolio values of multiple clients, calculates tiered adviser charging based on that value, then applies it proportionally to each client in the group based on their individual asset amounts. Read more here.
✅ New DFMs – proud of our multi-award winning in-house DFM, but we recognise advisers want choice. That’s why we’ve added over 10 new DFMs to the platform in 2024, including Elston, Quilter and Portfolio Metrix. To see the full list of third party DFMs available on our platform, click here.
✅ New portfolio reporting – In February we added new features to the app. Allowing you to see your portfolio performance on the go. Track your gains, losses and flows, and see detailed graphs with adjustable time ranges for your wrappers and individual portfolios.
✅New SIPP Expression of Wish – March saw the ability to add or update your SIPP expression of wish in the app. You can also add, remove and update your beneficiaries.
📲 Paperless, signature-free Direct Debit confirmations – In August we launched this feature for our mobile app and online portal for clients with Multi-Factor Authentication. Simply set up a new Direct Debit via the platform, choose the mobile app for confirmation, and your client will be notified to approve it in the app or online.
What about 2025?
At our flagship Let’s Grow event at Battersea Power Station we gave attendees the opportunity to share their thoughts on what we should prioritise in 2025. Why not have your say too?
