If all the press headlines are to be believed, every financial advice firm in the UK should be launching or planning to launch an execution-only service in the near future if they are to continue growing a successful business in the UK.

Granted the indicators are there for this part of the market to be a useful line of business for advisers in the future, as the pressures from the RDR coupled with a culture shift that is beginning to see younger people grow in confidence when it comes to selecting funds continue to cultivate that market.

The trouble is that as much as advisers many want to launch an execution-only strand to their business they have bigger worries at the moment.

Our latest report, Execution-Only Platform Research 2013 – Tackling The Post-RDR Advice Gap, found that less than a fifth of advisers have either launched or planned to launch a transaction-based service to either attract new clients or keep those who may fall out of the advice chain due to the costs associated with it post-RDR.

We at CoreData feel the big reason for this is that advisers simply have bigger fish to fry at this stage and are focusing their energies on getting their business models in order for the new regulatory world. Current charging models for their existing clients are the sort of concerns keeping advisers awake at night, not how they can grow their business.

Some advisers are also willing to advise clients with smaller investment pots at this stage as they continue to mould their post-RDR advice model.

Think of it this way, you’re a football manager coming to a team bottom of the league. The first thing you want to do is get your house in order – make the defence compact and stop the team conceding goals (this is the charging model for you non-football fans) – and then go on the attack (the transaction-only proposition).

Going on the attack also brings up the issue of cost. Launching a transaction-only arm cost tens of thousands of pounds to do properly. Those numbers already alienate a number of advice firms going down this route.

There is also the dark shadow in the background that is the Financial Conduct Authority, who is watching this market very closely.

Transaction-only services will have a role to play for UK financial advisers in the next decade or so. We just believe this market is going to take a lot longer to grow as financial advisers look to stop other threats from putting their business in jeopardy.