Investment Funds Direct Limited (IFDL), an independent wrap platform, has put its direct-to-consumer (D2C) business, Fundsdirect, up for sale.
IFDL said that it does not see the direct fund supermarket as core to its ongoing business strategy of providing investment administration services to intermediaries.
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Launched in 1999, Fundsdirect currently has 2,000 customers with around £23 million of assets under administration. IFDL is seeking a purchaser of the Fundsdirect assets together with the client base.
Fundsdirect is a trading name of IFDL, which also provides investment administration services to financial advisors and institutional clients via its Ascentric and IFDL brands.
The development marks a shift in the company’s approach to execution only services. IFDL is currently developing a new B2B2C (business to business to consumer) platform, which will allow distributors to set up their own non-advised business stream.
Hugo Thorman, managing director of IFDL, said: "Fundsdirect participates in the D2C market which is expected to benefit hugely from RDR but it is ultimately at odds with our ongoing strategy which is to focus on intermediaries.
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By GlobalData"Obviously we would expect to continue to administer the assets and products for the new owner. Research suggests that there will be strong consumer demand for access to direct platforms, giving a new entrant a great springboard for growth in this market."
