What next?
M&G anticipates completely moving off Royal London’s servers before the end of this year.
“We had aspirations to go a bit earlier,” said Blower. “But you want to do it safely, rather than rushing for a particular time scale. Because it works fine under a transition service agreement anyway.”
Once the server migration is complete, M&G will start to roll out product improvements on Ascentric in the new year.
The re-launched platform will include access to M&G’s sustainable version of PruFund.
Blower claimed M&G will be the first UK platform to make it available to advisers.
“We’re looking to announce some new adviser relationships on the platform too,” said Blower. These will add to the platform’s two big white-label relationships it’s landed so far, with Succession and Openwork.
Blower said the new partners, similar sizes to Succession and Openwork, will be announced in the coming months.
David Montgomery, who heads up M&G Wealth, said he wants the firm to plug the UK’s advice gap.
Currently, the business houses 500 advisers. But through acquisition, recruitment and its academy, it intends to double this figure over the next few years.
The group is also hoping to land regulatory approval by early December for its acquisition of advice firm Sandringham, which it announced in August.
The acquired firm will remain independent, and advisers can choose whether or not to use the M&G re-launch of Ascentric.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
