NextWealth report finds that discretionary MPS strong growth continues, capturing outsized share of platform assets

Assets in discretionary MPS experienced strong growth of 11% in the past six months and 25% in the past year, while underlying platform assets grew just 5.3% in the same year on year period, according to NextWealth’s bi-annual MPS tracking study.

The market for discretionary on-platform MPS has grown £15bn since the end of September, reinforcing strong continued growth.

Heather Hopkins, Managing Director of NextWealth comments:

“The market for discretionary MPS continues to grow, with assets growing faster than underlying platform assets. While assets in discretionary MPS were up 25% in the year, that compares to only 5.3% for platform assets. We are not just seeing strong growth but a continued shift in assets. Within the pie that MPS is operating in, it continues to take a bigger slice.”

Fee pressure flattens out

The latest report also confirms that fee pressure has flattened out, with the average total cost falling only 4 bps in the past 12 months and remaining flat over the past 6 months. Between 2021 and 2024 the asset weighted average total cost (MPS fee + OCF) paid by the client almost halved from 1% to 0.54%.

Heather Hopkins, comments:

“We’re calling the bottom on fees. While over recent years we’ve reported on the rapid decline in fees, mainly due to a higher allocation to passive tracker funds, downward pressure seems to have eased. We think fees have bottomed out and will remain stable over the next two to three years.”

The report finds that a key response to fee pressure among DFMs has been the increased use of passives, caused by growth in low-cost tracker portfolios and use of passive funds in hybrid portfolios. But in the latest set of data, the shift to passive has plateaued, with assets in passives dipping slightly to 42% as some fully active DFMs have experienced strong asset growth.

Top performing firms

The report finds that the top five DFMs by net asset growth in the past six months were Quilter Wealth Select, Tatton, Timeline, Omnis and Brooks Macdonald. The top five by percentage growth were Blackfinch, Marlborough, Aspen, LGIM and Omnis.

Giants Quilter Wealth Select and Tatton continued to dominate, representing a quarter of all market assets. Timeline also continues its strong trajectory, breaking into the top 5 largest firms alongside Parmenion and Brewin Dolphin.

Heather Hopkins, comments:

“While Quilter Wealth Select and Tatton continue to capture an outsized share of assets in discretionary MPS, the market remains vibrant and competitive. Firms with different business models and different pricing structures continue to experience strong growth. Among the fastest growing firms are service-led firms, low-cost passive providers, vertically integrated wealth managers and firms offering a higher-cost active solution. This points to a healthy and competitive market.”

New to the report

NextWealth’s MPS Proposition Report https://nextwealth.co.uk/research/mps-asset-update-june-2025/ for the first time breaks down asset data across co-branded, tailored and sub-advised portfolios, reports on assets in unitised models and breaks down assets by type of model portfolio.

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