Platform One, a wrap platform established back in 2009, is now officially under way. It is aimed at high net worth clients, multi-family offices and top tier advisor firms. One of the founders of Ascentric, Michael Fordham, is managing director.

The Platform One founding partners are the WAY Group, London & Colonial, Ward Goodman Financial Services, Section 615, European Pensions Management and Cheviot Asset Management.

The new service is a “whole-of-market” wrap platform which provides a UK and international wrap service; the firm values the premium segments of both the UK and offshore wrap markets at £200 billion (about $329 billion) and £50 billion respectively. 

The firm believes only some £150 billion of advised UK assets have been transferred on to platforms so far, with approximately £35 billion of  this on wraps and the rest on fund supermarkets. It also sees that, aided by RDR impact, the rate of transfer by advisors of UK assets on to platforms is expected to grow rapidly.

Other specialist products and services appropriate for high net worth clients include IHT planning, specialist trusts, flexible pension provision, open annuities, offshore pensions, and bespoke discretionary management, the firm said in a statement.  

The outsourced investment administration partner for the international service is Moventum of Luxembourg and the custodian is Banque de Luxembourg.

The platform views another of its key features as the support it offers advisors to record and maintain “non-custody” high value assets such as UK and international property, yachts, jewellery, high performance cars and bloodstock as well as specialist investments in LLPs, EIS and unquoted shares, as it says such assets often represent a significant proportion of such clients’ total net wealth and should therefore feature on their valuations. In addition to this Platform One is also providing clients with what it terms a “preferential link” to Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service.