Standard Life Wrap today launched Discretionary Plus, a specially selected group of eight Discretionary Fund Managers which can "offer its advisers the expertise and assurance when dealing with the retirement market".
The firm said it was created specifically to support planners grappling with the changing retirement market and having to manage portfolios of large numbers of clients requiring regular income withdrawals.
David Tiller, Standard Life head of adviser platform propositions, said: "Discretionary Plus is all about putting advisers in the driving seat to enable them to deliver sustainable solutions to their clients."

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The eight firms selected by Standard Life Wrap are:
• Financial Express
• Brewin Dolphin
• Charles Stanley
• Investec
• Brooks Macdonald
• Vestra Wealth
• Quilter Cheviot
• Standard Life Wealth

Mr Tiller said: "I am delighted that all of these Discretionary Plus DFMs have thought deeply about the retirement challenge. For example, all recognise the need to react quickly to market movements with some carrying out portfolio reviews as often as daily, this will give advisers great confidence that their portfolios will not drift from their target volatility bands. This sort of innovation is exactly what is required if we are to meet the retirement advice needs of the UK population."
The DFMs selected currently look after around 61% of the open market discretionary assets on the wrap platform and are a "mix of well-known names in the market and emerging stars".
Discretionary Plus is said to have been designed to complement the existing DFM offering on the platform and can be used alongside other DFMs. Standard Life Wrap currently has 30 DFMs on Platform with more being added on a regular basis.
Mr Tiller said: "I believe advisers are considering the capacity issues that may arise from the massive increase in client demand arising from the Chancellor's pension freedoms. What we are seeing is advisers bolstering their processes to meet this demand, which is extremely encouraging.
Graham Dow, head of investment group relationships at Standard Life, said: "We are very keen to bring something fresh to this part of the market. The DFMs that we have selected have all demonstrated either a strong heritage in supporting the adviser community or shown us that they can introduce some really innovative ideas particularly in the retirement market which is facing unprecedented change."    

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