The RDR was expected to herald major changes in the investment trust space but nine months later and it appears that this has yet to materialise.

Investment trusts were expected to be one of the few beneficiaries from tighter regulations. With commission now banned in the post-RDR and a push towards IFAs offering a whole of market approach it was expected that investment trusts would come onto their radar far more often as they have tended to outperform their unit trust and Oeic rivals albeit with a bit of a bumpier road to success.

But despite the sector breaking the £100bn barrier in the UK in early 2013 it is only a speck on the £740bn in the unit trust space.

According to CoreData’s UK investment trusts –post RDR examination report – advisers appears to still be unsure, unwilling or lack the resources to move even some client assets into investment trusts.

Much of the blame for this lack of demand has traditionally been put at the door of the platforms with the big three (Cofunds, FundsNetwork and Skandia) failing as yet to introduce investment trusts onto their platforms.

Our research found that while IFAs are only marginally positive towards platforms, the real potential could be from the Discretionary Fund Manager space where the outlook of investment trusts appears more positive.

With advisers increasingly outsourcing their investment capabilities to DFMs could this be the surprising catalyst that gets investment trust into the mainstream?

Much of it appears to do with change; many advisers shun change while DFMs look set to embrace it.

While it would be fair to say that gearing and pricing differences have also played a part on the lack of a take up of investment trust from advisers – independent or not – the performance stats show that investment trusts have outperformed unit trust in eight of the 11 sectors they sit in over the last three years, only failing in Europe, US small-caps and European small-caps.

With lower charges and better returns, do advisers need to recognise that investment trusts offer a valid alternative to unit trusts? Many advisers may simply need to change with the times.