Novia to cut platform charges

Adviser platform Novia is to cut its charges from the start of 2023 following a review of its pricing strategy.

From 1 January, a Novia client with between £100,000 and £200,000 on the platform will see headline rates drop from 0.50% to 0.30% for firms with over £10m of assets on the platform.

The same client from a firm with under £10m of assets on the platform would see their headline rate drop to 0.35%.

Clients with £250,000 to £500,000 on the platform will see headline rates drop from 0.40% to 0.30% for firms with over £10m of assets on the platform and 0.35% for firms with under £10m.

Those with assets between £500,000 and £750,000 on the platform will see headline rates drop from 0.30% to 0.20%.

Clients with assets between £750,000 and £1m on the platform will see their headline rates remain at 0.2%, while clients with over £1m on the platform will see their rates held at 0.1%.

However, the minimum fee for the platform is to increase from £75 to £100 and will only apply to clients with small portfolios paying less than £8.33 per month.

The new charges will apply to new and existing clients.

Patrick Mill, CEO of Novia, said: “We’ve been preparing the ground to position Novia for what we believe is a third era for platforms, differentiating on true digitisation and deeper connectivity. Running alongside our investment in technology and work on micro-services, has been a review of pricing strategy focusing on value and transparency.

“We’ve always taken a sustainable and responsible approach to price which means we aim to strike the right balance between offering great value for money for customers while continuing to invest in our technology, our service, and our people to help create efficiencies within adviser businesses. I’m pleased to say that we’re now in a position to share the benefit of our increased scale by reducing our standard platform charge and simplifying our charging model.”

Novia and fellow platform Wealthtime were acquired by private equity firm Anacap last year. 

The combined platforms have over £11.8bn of pension and investment assets under administration for over 67,000 clients.

Anacap has already migrated the assets of another platform it acquired, Amber Financial, to Novia.

Novia has seen several high-level staff departures since its takeover by the private equity firm including CEO Bill Vasilieff shortly after the deal was completed.  

Novia was setup in 2008 and has assets under management of approximately £9.3bn.