That was the conclusion of a report by Defaqto, which stated that 64% of managed portfolio service launches were on adviser platform rather than direct with the discretionary manager.

The research firm has registered 42 new platform hosted and 24 discretionary manager custody solutions.

While the last year has been relatively quiet in terms of corporate activity, there was an increasing trend for putting the pieces of a jigsaw together to achieve vertical integration across the distribution chain, the researchers said.

This included adviser businesses, platform, product and discretionary managers.

Fraser Donaldson, insight analyst – funds and DFM at Defaqto, said: “I think that all the evidence points to a change in the investment landscape.

“Increasing numbers of platform solutions suggests two things. Firstly, discretionary managers have, possibly reluctantly, accepted that to succeed in asset gathering in the retail financial adviser market they will have to make their solutions available on adviser platforms and this means giving up custody of assets to the platforms.

“Secondly, these figures further underline the importance of platforms to the adviser market, particularly as a hub for all their investment management and administration.

“This may also explain the slow march to vertical integration as bigger entities wish to retain control of all links in the distribution chain.”

Defaqto’s DFM market update is accredited for up to 60 minutes of CPD via its website. It informs advisers about outsourcing to a discretionary manager and helps them to keep up to date with this growing area of investment.