More than half of financial advisers say poor platform service continues to harm their business, according to new research from Parmenion.
Its latest report, The Impact of Poor Platform Service, found 54% of advisers believe it has a significant impact on their firm – an improvement from 80% in last year’s study.
Service issues remain widespread. Ninety per cent of advisers said they have apologised to clients in the past year because of platform failings, down slightly from 95% in 2024.
Four in ten advisers have switched platform due to service problems, while firms still lose an average of four hours a week dealing with platform-related friction. Although this is an improvement on last year’s 5.3 hours, Parmenion warns productivity losses remain too high.
Transfers remain a major frustration. The vast majority of advisers want greater transparency on transfer performance, with 90% calling for platforms to publish their electronic transfer connectivity for both inbound and outbound transfers across all products.
Key findings:
• 90% of advisers have apologised to clients for poor platform service (down from 95%).
• 40% have changed platform because of service failures.
• 90% want platforms to publish transfer connectivity data.
• Productivity loss stands at 17%, with firms losing nearly a day a week to platform issues (down from 21%).
The report was produced with the lang cat and is based on feedback from 190 advisers. It marks the third wave of research begun in Autumn 2023.
Parmenion CEO Martin Jennings said the findings show the industry is “moving in the right direction”, but advisers still face too many service pain points.
“Transfers in particular are a clear example of where our industry is falling short. Advisers are still losing valuable hours each week that should be spent serving clients.
“We hope to see greater transparency and accountability in 2026 so next year’s report highlights great strides rather than small steps.”
Chief customer officer Sarah Lyons said the insights are vital for driving improvement.
“Research like this helps us understand how platforms are really working for advisers today, and where we need to raise the bar,” she said.
The lang cat’s insight director Steve Nelson said service remains the biggest driver of adviser satisfaction and platform choice.
“Although there has been a slight improvement, 90% of advisers still report having to apologise to clients – which is surely unacceptable.
“Advisers want accountability when things go wrong. We hope to see more platforms taking ownership rather than passing the buck.”
