All-platform access a step closer following Novia move, says Barclays Wealth's Colin Dickie

Barclays Wealth director Colin Dickie says Novia's move to include structured products on its platform is a significant step towards securing greater access across the platform market as a whole.

Dickie believes Novia's decision, which it attributed to strong adviser demand, is a significant move forward for structured product providers as they strive to overcome ongoing distribution hurdles with fund-focused supermarkets and wrap platforms.

Prior to Novia's move Nucleus and Transact were the only platforms to host structured products alongside conventional funds.

Dickie believes platforms' historic reluctance to offer protected investments could be set to change as demand from advisers continues to mount.

Barclays Wealth's own research in March demonstrated a growing demand among advisers for better access to structured products, with Cofunds and Selestia Investment Solutions the most in-demand platforms, followed by Fidelity's FundsNetwork.

This demand, says Dickie, has partly stemmed from recent maturities which have highlighted structures' outperformance relative to tracker funds.

Barclays Wealth's recent maturies have at least paid back investors' capital and more than half have delivered returns in excess of the average FTSE 100 tracker fund.

Dickie says: "Capital protection has been a huge boon in highly turbulent markets and advisers' perception of structured products has clearly changed in recent months.

As a result demand for products has grown exponentially but distribution through the platforms has not risen accordingly.

Novia's move could be a significant one because it highlighted the fact that advisers are increasingly demanding to see products on platforms alongside more 'mainstream' funds.

I hope this remains the case and that other platforms follow Novia's example.

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