Quilter has reported a steep rise over the past year in the amount of assets and platform accounts that are being linked between family members.
In the second quarter of 2020, just 0.5 per cent of flows into the Quilter platform went into accounts that were linked between different family members.
However, by the first quarter of 2021, this figure had grown to 12.7 per cent of all Quilter platform flows - one in every eight pounds placed on the platform.
Old Mutual Wealth’s family linking was launched in February 2020 and allows multiple family members across four generations to be linked on the platform.
There is no minimum investment and each family member’s charge is based on the total value of all products held on the platform by the family members who are linked.
Over the past year, Quilter said approximately 73,000 accounts have been linked on the platform allowing customers to benefit from a multiple family member discount.
In the next 30 years it is predicted that £5.5trn could transfer through the generations, presenting an opportunity for advisers when it comes to future clients.
But Karen Blatchford, distribution director at Quilter, said approximately 66 per cent of children leave their parents’ financial adviser after they inherit their parents’ wealth.
“To combat this, the creation of a family office is becoming increasingly popular as financial advisers intensify their focus on intergenerational wealth transfer planning,” she said.
“Platforms can work well in this situation by combining the assets held across family members to lower the charges paid by each individual client.”
She added: “While spousal linking on platforms is common in the UK, family linking is rarer.
“We are really pleased to see advisers beginning to make use of family linking and for clients to receive the benefits.
"The transfer of wealth in the UK means there is a great opportunity for advisers to start to thinking about the future clients, as well as the ones in the here and now, and we feel family linking is a great conversation starter for this.”
Andy Watt, director of Watt Money, said: “Family linking changed the conversations I have with my clients.
“Families started collaborating and with so much choice in the market it helped to focus my clients’ minds on a strategy that was cost effective.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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