Tilney Smith & Williamson has updated its Bestinvest platform for the digital era to tap into the DIY-investing boom, while still providing a human touch for less experienced traders.
On 25 May, the wealth manager ‘re-launched’ the investment platform, which has been re-imagined as a hybrid digital service “aimed at supporting the UK’s growing ranks of DIY investors”.
The pandemic saw an influx of first-time traders come into the market, as lockdown restrictions left people stuck at home looking for ways to redirect their excess cash, and platforms have been looking to capitalise on this trend.
During a press briefing at Tilney S&W’s new London headquarters, chief executive Chris Woodhouse said the relaunch sets the business up to take advantage of the convergence of digital trading and face-to-face customer relationships in the wealth management space.
Clients will still be able to choose investments from thousands of funds, investment trusts, ETFs and shares held on the platform. But they will now have unlimited access to investment ‘coaches’ free of charge.
The coaches, all of whom are qualified financial planners, are there to help clients with an array of topics, spanning best practices for how to invest, key cash-flow planning decisions and thinking about investment goals.
For those requiring personalised advice, “bite-sized” advice packages are available for a one-off fixed fee. This includes a £295 “investing for your goals” offering, which includes advice on selecting ready-made portfolios and asset allocation, or a £495 ($625, €591) “portfolio health check”.
Bestinvest’s new website, which is now live, also contains digital tools to help savers monitor their progress against their investment goals.
Closing the advice gap
Woodhouse said the revamp is designed to help the 13.2 million people currently being underserved by the wealth management industry.
“It is estimated that there are 9.2 million people in the UK who already have some form of long-term savings but who are not getting professional advice and have low confidence in their investment knowledge. A further four million people are estimated to have excess cash savings that they would be willing to invest, but many just don’t know who to turn to,” he said.
“This is an important strategic initiative for us that offers great value for existing DIY investors while also enabling us to support less confident savers, consistent with our corporate purpose of placing the power of good advice into more hands.”
Guidance vs advice
Bestinvest stressed there is a clear ring-fence around its coaches to distinguish them from the army of financial advisers and wealth management professionals at the wider Tilney S&W business.
“We have done hundreds and hundreds of these,” Oliver Plant, head of Bestinvest proposition, said of the coaching sessions. “We ran a six-month pilot – loads of scrutiny, compliance partners in the room. We haven’t had a single person that said I think you gave me advice when you didn’t or when you didn’t think so.”
The coaches themselves have gone through extensive training and competency assessments to make sure there is no confusion with the end client, Simonetta Rigo chief marketing officer, added.
“We have done a lot of work with our coaching team and compliance team to not use jargon around guidance versus regulated financial advice.
“What we explain to them at the beginning of the call is a coaching conversation tells you what you could be doing, an advice conversation tells you what you should be doing.”
However, asked whether he was concerned about receiving complaints from clients not appreciating the guidance/advice distinction, Woodhouse admits to being “worried about it”.
“I’m realistic about it. We deal with millions of people; you’re going to get complaints and things aren’t always going to work. Hopefully it will work the vast majority of the time, but you’ll get the odd Mr Angry from Tunbridge Wells as I’m sure we all do.”
Why Bestinvest is keeping its branding
Unlike the rest of the businesses under the Tilney S&W umbrella, Bestinvest will keep its branding when the company is renamed Evelyn Partners this summer.
Rigo said the decision for Bestinvest to retain a separate identity was driven chiefly by customer feedback.
“We did a piece of customer strategy with an extensive market segmentation and it was very clear the mindset of the self-directed investor differs very greatly from people who need support in managing their wealth,” she said.
“It is a household brand,” Plant said, “and it works well for search engine optimisation, helping clients find us, so I think it would probably be more value destroying to change it.”
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