Equisoft Predicts Widening of the Scope of Fund Transfers Though Overall Volumes Drop 28%

Equisoft UK, the UK’s leading provider of pension and investment transfer solutions, has analysed transfer opportunities across the market, and has come up with its own predictions as to how the transfer market is likely to evolve this year.  Transfers are critical in allowing savers and investors to move funds from provider to provider with ease and efficiency.

Howard Finnegan, Product Sales Director for Equisoft UK comments that: “The market has been growing.  At the end of 2022 there were 404 live counterparties using the TeX/UKETRG open standards to support electronic account/portfolio transfers and assets re-registration across the Wealth, Pensions, and Investments value chain.  That is the highest ever and there are more coming on board.  That’s the good news, the less good news is that we saw a 28% drop in transfer volumes compared to 2021.”

“2022 was a significant year for TeX and the open electronic transfer and re-registration standards.  It was ten years since the first electronic TeX/open standards transfers completed. There was also a major upgrade to dramatically extend the range of asset classes that can be re-registered electronically, from two places of settlement to 29 places of settlement.”

How Will Transfers Change in 2023?

Equisoft’s team predicts the following changes in 2023:

• More wealth managers/private client organisations supporting electronic transfers.
• Extending the Places of settlement from 2 to 29 (expanding the Asset Range).
• Expansion of the scope of pensions transfers with more occupational/ViaNova participants joining, and the expansion to DB transfers.

Who Supports Electronic Transfers?

Below is the breakdown of electronic transfer coverage by market segment:

• Twenty-seven adviser platforms, representing 99.4% of AUA (Assets under advice), support electronic transfers.  All the top 20 adviser platforms support electronic transfers (19 of these adviser Platforms (or 65.5% of AUA) use Equisoft/transfer).
• Thirty four D2C platforms and execution-only brokers support electronic transfers. All the top 10 D2C providers support electronic transfers (of these 18 use Equisoft/transfer)
• Ninety-three Wealth Managers and Private Clients support electronic transfers (of these, 90 use Equisoft/transfer).
• Twenty-two White Label/Family Office/Charities support electronic transfers (of these, 19 use Equisoft/transfer).
• Twenty-eight pension providers support open standards based electronic transfers and re-registration. (of these, 16 use Equisoft/transfer).
• Ten custodians/Intermediate unit holders support electronic re-registration. (of these, 7 use Equisoft/transfer).
• One hundred and eighty-six Fund Managers support electronic re-registration – representing 96.5% of UK retail and private clients funds by FUM. (Of these, 47 (or 55.3% by FUM) use the Equisoft/transfer).