The UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) ended months of speculation this week with the release of its final position on product provider payments to platforms and rebates to consumers.

However, at the same time the regulator opened the door for a further sub-plot in the laborious march to RDR and beyond, with a further request for consultation to see whether non-advised platforms should be drawn into the mix, as well as SIPP providers and life companies.

For now, it is the traditional supermarkets that are left smiling.

The big boys – Skandia, Fidelity, and Cofunds – let out public cheers, while the so-called collective of wrap providers, Transact, Nucleus, and Ascentric, were left perplexed by a move to ban cash rebates in favour of unitised ‘credits’.

Meanwhile, the FSA anticipates its final-final position (which will include the latest round of consultations) to be cemented by the end of 2012 and then allowing all those affected one year’s grace to comply with its rulings.

Coincidentally, CoreData Research released its goliath annual study of the UK Investment Platform sector on the same day.

The 170-page study of 1,245 UK advisers reveals fees and charges have certainly risen to the fore over the past few years.

Platform and fund manager charges have become the top requirement for platform users this year, emerging from being the third priority in 2011.

Trends over the past three years reveal an increase in importance for a range of tools and services offered while showing a decreasing priority for ownership structure.

Cost, fees and charging structure is the top single factor that would encourage a third (31.7%) of advisers to place more business in one platform over another.

Advisers believe holistic financial planning is their typical client’s most common need.

Better value, the simplicity of use and better reporting are widely cited reasons advisers choose to allocate funds through one platform over another – which hasn’t changed since last year.

Advisers would most like to see full SIPPS and other complex pension options (29%), on their platform(s); closely followed by annuities and income drawdowns (26%) – the latter was last year’s third most popular choice.

A snapshot of some of the other findings include:

• Almost three in 10 (29.1%) advisers are likely to promote the use of their platform, up from the 19.7% last year (and 21.8% in 2010), highlighting a heightened sentiment of platform promotion amongst platform users.
• The average level of satisfaction with  main platforms is higher than it is for second choice providers.
• A tenth (9.5%) claim very high satisfaction at a score of 10 for their main platform (on a scale of one to 10, with 10 denoting very high satisfaction); while only 2% say this for their second choice platform.
• 9 out of 10 (96.8%) advisers use investment platforms in their business.
• A fifth (22%) say they (or their firm) are very unlikely to add additional platforms to the ones they already use within the next year; less than half this proportion thinks otherwise (9%).
• An average adviser funds under advice levels are slightly reduced in 2012 – at £22.6 million down from £23.0 million in 2011.
• For both main and secondary choice platforms advisers are more confident that levels of business will increase rather than decrease with the key platforms they are already using.
• And they would also like platforms to do better in terms of offering (1.) wide product range & flexibility, (2.) lower cost, better value, and (3.) better service, administration & support.