The 2 platforms set to become the Apple of wealth tech
Platform consolidation is expected to accelerate among financial advisers this year, as software company Finura pinpoints which two platforms are set to be the winners.
According to the wealth management consultancy, there has been a doubling in the number of advice businesses indicating a preference to use only one investment platform.
Namely, the number of practices using a single platform grew from 6 per cent a year ago to 12 per cent currently.
The firm’s Australian Wealth Tech Predictions 2025 report highlighted that the “era of platform promiscuity” – in which advisers utilise several platforms – is drawing to a close, instead replaced by “platform monogamy”.
This trend is underpinned by both economic necessity and operational pragmatism, Finura identified, as advisers look to reduce the number of data sources across the business.
“This isn’t just about cost savings – it’s about creating integrated advice ecosystems where data flows seamlessly and advice tech comes pre-integrated. The holy grail? Be the Apple of wealth tech,” the report wrote.
Platforms that can deliver end-to-end solutions ranging across advice delivery, practice management and client engagement will thrive in this new era, according to Finura, essentially becoming the operating system for advice firms.
Peter Worn, joint managing director at Finura, unpacked the idea of platform consolidation further on a recent webinar. In particular, he pinpointed two particular platforms which are set to benefit from “one of the great arms races of all time”.
He explained: “What we saw was a doubling of practices who are using one platform. Last year it was 6 per cent of practices, now it’s 12 per cent. If this gains traction, I think we’re going to see one of the great arms races of all time to consolidate platform usage across the 15,000 advisers in Australia.
“We are absolutely seeing in the platform space a lot of the value creation being concentrated in two businesses fundamentally: HUB24 and Netwealth. That’s reflected in their inflows. While they are still low on market share, they’re growing quite quickly and their acceleration in share prices really caught us off guard.”
Over the past 12 months, the two platforms collectively added more market cap than two times the size of Insignia Financial, Worn stated, with Insignia having a market cap of $2.97 billion.
Netwealth is currently ahead of HUB24 in terms of market cap at approximately $6.8 billion, while HUB24 stands at $5.8 billion. Both firms have also detailed how they are harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their processes and efficiencies.
“[HUB24 and Netwealth] are investing quite aggressively in their own technology and their own services. They really want to be not just a platform – they’re thinking more broadly,” Worn said.
Platform leaders that construct an entire technology ecosystem will extend their lead as platform usage narrows, the report continued.
“Multiple platform usage is driven by legacy, managing best interest duty (BID) and diversifying operational risk. As BID is reviewed under Tranche II of Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO), we expect advisers will drift towards a single platform.”
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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