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he advice landscape has changed in the past 10 years with new regulations, market uncertainty, and shifts in client demographics. The role of MPS had also evolved
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Managed Portfolio Solutions
Regulations and changing client needs means no MPS provider can afford to grow complacent.
The modern MPS adapts to the new advice landscape
Important information
Since the introduction of Consumer Duty, MPS has played, and continues to play a pivotal role by delivering a robust, consistent and professionally managed investment proposition, which enables advisers to concentrate on delivering comprehensive and valued financial planning and coaching.
Aberdeen Portfolio Solutions Limited, registered in England (08948895) at 280 Bishopsgate, London, United Kingdom, EC2M 4AG. Aberdeen Portfolio Solutions Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. ©Aberdeen plc 2025. All rights reserved.
and has transitioned from a simple offering to a one-stop shop solution.
Capital is at risk. For professional / qualified investors only
MPS personalisation on route to advisers and their clients
MPS innovation is happening
Consumer understanding… are we there yet?
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Investment heritage is key when considering MPS
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This Spotlight explores the importance of a heritage and experience when navigating market uncertainty, the sustained pressure providers are under to drive efficiencies, how technology is helping deliver better value to clients, and how Consumer Duty is still forcing advice firms to adapt.
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Chief investment officer Peter Branner and head of investments Darren Ripton explain why heritage and experience in MPS solution offerings are critical to navigating evolving market conditions
A consistent approach to changing markets
A key philosophy that underpins Aberdeen’s MPS solutions is consistency. Darren Ripton, head of investments at Aberdeen, points to the importance of having tried and tested investment processes as critical to generating returns.
“[This relies on] having a very sensible long-term strategic asset allocation that gives us the structure to place client money in various different asset classes depending on the level of risk and deliver the return that they're looking to achieve over the long term,” says Ripton. “It is the cornerstone of how we run money.”
The heritage that Aberdeen brings to the MPS table isn’t just about the resources it has as a FTSE 250 listed investment manager. It is about developing a process that can maintain a long-term perspective while being reactive along the way.
s a major investment manager, Aberdeen has been operating in the MPS space for over a decade and this heritage has shaped an MPS range to help navigate market uncertainty.
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“What Aberdeen offers is a structured way of getting the full benefit of a large investment house with expertise in all asset classes and at the same time having a very thorough risk management process,” he adds.
“It gives us the flexibility to tilt portfolios in a manner that offers the best opportunities, be that from a style perspective, or being able to move up and down the market cap spectrum” he adds.
Tactical asset allocation allows for shorter-term changes – usually between six and 18 months – where opportunities can be best-capitalised upon. Levers, such as tilting portfolios away from moderately overvalued asset classes to those which offer opportunity or changes in fund selection allow the team to manoeuvre portfolios as and when they need to tactically.
Ripton says today’s environment has made tactical asset allocation “more challenging than ever” but the team is able to minimise risk exposure while they consider their options.
“Currently in portfolios, we're probably taking the least amount of risk from a tactical allocation side of things that we've taken for a while,” he says. “But again, we are taking a little bit of risk away from our strategic asset allocation as it were, tilting portfolios towards shorter-term global government bonds that we believe will benefit clients most in this interest rate cutting cycle.
As active managers, the team behind the range of Aberdeen MPS solutions can look further afield to how alternatives can benefit portfolios. Listed infrastructure has become a focus for the MPS, specifically in Europe where defence budgets are being bolstered by €800bn over the coming decade. A substantial part of this, Branner explains, will end up in infrastructure.
“Whether you use the defence theme in liquid or in illiquid markets, it’s a choice that will play a big role for the growth in Europe, Investors must remember that over 60% of our defence spend is in fact imported from the US. Whereas if one invests in hard infrastructure, it is much more positive for the European economy in terms of job creation and business activity,” says Branner.
Darren Ripton, head of investments
“Our investment process relies on sensible long-term strategic asset allocation that can deliver the return that clients are looking to achieve over the long term”
Ripton’s MPS team works with the modelling and analytics teams to provide a robust framework that can be relied upon to help deliver good outcomes for underlying clients. This begins with an overall strategic asset allocation process which matches risk targets to long-term asset allocation, that in turn should provide optimal levels of return. Reviews occur at least annually to provide assurance that they remain valid, whilst also offering the opportunity to finesse if needed.
Active management powers through market cycles
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“MPS is a very important part of our business because it's client-driven and client solutions-driven,” says Peter Branner, chief investment officer at Aberdeen, who views MPS as the asset manager’s resources and expertise refined into a singular “one stop shop” proposition.
Peter Branner, chief investment officer
“Aberdeen offers a structured way of getting the full benefit of a large investment house with expertise in all asset classes and at the same time having a very thorough risk management process”
Two years on from the implementation of Consumer Duty, and this regulation is still forcing advice firms to adapt
In response, there has been a trend of more advice firms standardising their approach and developing more consistent sales and advice processes. Centralised Investment Propositions (CIPs) and Centralised Retirement Propositions (CRPs) can help here, especially given the wide-ranging scope of Consumer Duty which Mark Hopcroft – head of investment solutions at Aberdeen Adviser - says come down to three impacts for advisers.
Since the introduction of Consumer Duty, the greatest shift we’ve seen is that of advisers adopting MPS solutions to help meet their growing regulatory obligations. However, while the MPS market has expanded over recent years, Hopcroft expects this to contract, given the scale needed to survive, seeing fortune favouring the providers that can help strengthen end-client support.
The importance of consumer understanding
Mark Hopcroft, head of investment solutions
“The opportunity I see here is not necessarily about building more services for advisers that deliver Consumer Duty, but beginning to deliver services that move from delivering Consumer Duty to one which delivers consumer understanding,” says Hopcroft.
“They've got to review their existing services, what they are delivering, and how they are delivering it,” says Hopcroft. “This means building in enhanced monitoring and reporting. All of this can have an impact on their culture and their governance.”
Smaller firms are more challenged with having the resources of their larger counterparts, and the specifics of underlying client banks can also play a significant role. This has heightened the need for third-party support and time poor advisers are increasingly looking at what they can outsource. Which has led a growing number of advisers to rethink who handles their investments, and how.
Consumer understanding is one of the more challenging elements of the Consumer Duty regulation. Advice firms have been busy enhancing and refining their propositions, but Hopcroft sees being able to articulate end-clients’ knowledge as an emerging challenge for them.
“That's the next stage for advisers - to be able to answer the question of how is what you are doing impacting consumers, and how are you evidencing this” he adds.
“The opportunity is about beginning to deliver services that move from delivering Consumer Duty to one which delivers consumer understanding”
dvisers have been contending with a flurry of new regulations in recent years, with few arguably as significant as Consumer Duty. Two years on and it is still forcing advice firms to adapt, with the wordings and the scope of this regulation
Fundamentally, advisers are the ones sitting down across from clients, understanding their circumstances, answering questions and putting in place financial plans that work for them.
Supporting the adviser’s role
MPS solutions can play a crucial role here, from helping drive down costs to providing the data and reports needed by advisers to make sense of everything a client may need or want to know about. However, this goes further and MPS providers, such as Aberdeen, can play an important role in helping advisers embed consumer understanding into their overarching propositions, ultimately freeing up their time to become more available to their clients.
“Utopia is advisers able to spend as much of their time, effort and energy as possible doing what really adds value, and that's sitting in front of clients,” says Hopcroft, when asked about what an ideal tech-enabled Consumer Duty compliant world looks like.
“I’d say most of that time is talking to the client about their hopes, their dreams, their goals. [It’s about] changing their relationship, from one of an investment adviser to one of a financial coach, somebody who genuinely understands what the client will go through and how they can support that.”
allowing for a great deal of interpretation.
“Utopia is advisers able to spend as much of their time, effort and energy as possible doing what really adds value, and that's sitting in front of clients”
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Tomorrow’s MPS solutions could look very different to todays, as providers work to keep pace with a rapidly evolving advice industry
n a world marked by increasing economic inequality and environmental challenges, the need for innovative investment solutions that address both financial returns and societal impact has become ever more apparent.
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“There are many different technology providers an adviser could choose to engage with. From the advisers’ point of view, that just brings huge inefficiencies”
“If we can manage portfolios in a more efficient and robust way, then that will bring cost efficiencies we can pass back down the line to advisers, and their clients,” he explains. “So does your DFM seek to benefit from the advantages that technology can bring to help deliver value to the end client?”
Answering the Consumer Duty call
Consumer Duty is putting these firms under greater pressure to demonstrate they are supporting clients and meeting their needs. Fortunately, technology can help provide a solution here and more MPS providers are exploring how they can give advisers the information they need, when they need it.
In turn, Hopcroft says these solutions should ideally be able to help when reporting directly to the regulator and conveying how their rules are being complied with: “Are the providers they're using helping make that easy for them? Is the information they require readily available in a consistent format? That's just one of the ways in which the technology that we have can help advisers.”
“If we can manage portfolios in a more efficient and robust way, then that will bring cost efficiencies we can pass back down the line to advisers, and their clients”
PS has become an increasingly competitive space, swelling to over £180bn in size with more than 200 providers vying for market share.
As such, the pressure on providers to innovate is coming from various different directions, according to Aberdeen Adviser’s head of investment solutions Mark Hopcroft. As well as growing regulatory demands – such as the upcoming FCA review of MPS – Hopcroft sees providers under sustained pressure to drive efficiencies throughout their core functions
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Advice firms are also innovating more and increasingly using technology for functions from compliance to client communications. This can complicate the MPS decisions an adviser faces, which Hopcroft says must be taken into consideration by providers.
“There are many different technology providers an adviser could choose to engage with. From the advisers’ point of view, that just brings huge inefficiencies,” says Hopcroft. “So how do you make sure you've built your own tech stack in a way that is suitable for your business? How do they all integrate and how does it demonstrate - through Consumer Duty - it's adding value to the client outcome?”
A benefit of Aberdeen’s scale is its ability to build out its MPS proposition and create a variety of ranges for advisers to choose from. Currently, the firm offers four ranges with five risk-assessed models in each: Aberdeen MPS, Aberdeen Sustainable MPS, Aberdeen Index MPS and Aberdeen Sustainable Index MPS, as well as a standalone Money Market MPS and a tailored MPS offering designed for firms who require a more bespoke approach.
Aberdeen’s innovation is not only reflected in the breadth of its investment solutions, but also in its commitment to strengthening an advisers’ ability to meet evolving regulatory obligations around Consumer Duty, in particular, consumer understanding. Here, Hopcroft says it’s the firm’s role as a discretionary manager is to keep pace with adviser needs and – by extension – what their end-clients’ situations warrant.
Aberdeen’s innovation
“When I looked at [our] proposition - across price, service, longevity and heritage - it ticks all of those boxes,” reflects Hopcroft “Other firms might say the same, but they'd be hard pushed to demonstrate that they've been able to do it for as long as we have - as consistently at the price point, we've done it at, and with the returns we've delivered.”
Aberdeen Adviser’s Verona Kenny on how technology is helping to ensure clients understand MPS solutions and returns better
Expanding the ESG investment spectrum
Verona Kenny, chief distribution officer
“I'm excited about this proof of concept offering us an opportunity to get real adviser and investor feedback on what we're delivering there”
These now play a much more active role in the ongoing advice proposition of an adviser’s work. Aberdeen Adviser’s chief distribution officer Verona Kenny says this evolution of MPS has better consideration of advisers’ needs and wants reflected in their design. Advice firms are under growing pressure, financially and operationally, and for these reasons, advisers need MPS solutions that make the most sense for their businesses and enhance their relationships with clients.
Improving client engagement
With MPS now producing more transparency and granularity for advisers, the chief distribution officer can see this extended through to the end client as a way of helping them better engage with the advice process.
“We need to get them more engaged and maybe even enjoyment out of the MPS solution,” Kenny explains. “We won't kid ourselves that most clients are going to get excited about a tactical overlay on strategic asset allocation but actually it is so important to ensure they are meeting their investment goals that MPS solutions must be delivered in plain English and an engaging way to clients.”
Today, Aberdeen offers four MPS ranges, with five risk-assessed models in each: Aberdeen MPS, Aberdeen Index MPS, Aberdeen Sustainable MPS and Aberdeen Sustainable Index MPS, as well as a standalone Money Market MPS and a tailored MPS designed for firms who require a bespoke approach. As well as being a major asset manager, Aberdeen has the benefit of being a platform provider which adds further efficiency to its MPS proposition (though it can also be used on a range of third-party platforms).
The Aberdeen solution
uch has changed across the advice landscape in the past 10 years with new regulations, blockbuster mergers and several shifts in client demographics. Amid all of this, the role that MPS plays has changed, and they have
transitioned from being simple offerings to all-round solutions.
“Most clients want a certain level of detail, which is critically important to how a client is going to be able to retire and to live the retirement of their dreams,” says Kenny. “It is so important we are providing them with an understanding of how their money is being invested to reach their end goals.”
“It's a pretty big decision for an adviser to delegate or outsource the management of investments to a third party,” says Kenny, who explains that advisers need to have confidence in their MPS providers that they have the experience, know-how and expertise to run their clients’ money.
“And that is where, as a global investment manager, we can tick those boxes,” she adds.
On top of running the money, the MPS provider has a critical role to play in terms of client understanding. This makes personalisation vital and MPS providers are under pressure to facilitate this.
This is where Kenny sees scope for more work, with personalised videos that could be created using clients’ MPS data to better engage with them. Kenny says this is arguably a place where MPS providers should be operating now, and it is an area of focus for Aberdeen: “We have got a proof of concept that we are working with a number of advisers on and focusing on delivering a much more engaging format to end-clients.
“I'm excited about this proof of concept offering us an opportunity to get real adviser and investor feedback on what we're delivering there.”
“That puts us in a unique position because we have our MPS business and we have got our platform business so we intricately understand both,” says Kenny. “Having our investment team sit within that wider global investment engine, we have all that heritage, know-how and (critically) the risk systems and compliance that overlay what you would expect from a global investment manager.”
Despite these advantages, the ongoing evolution of MPS means no provider can afford to grow complacent. Aberdeen is continually making investments in its MPS ranges, exploring how it can better use technology to enhance reporting and drive personalisation in its proposition.
“It’s building on what we've done in the past,” says Kenny. “Evolving and using technology as an enabler. The key outcome being the combination of an investment process which can provide client returns and an experience personalised to each and every client delivered in an engaging way.”
“Having our investment team sit within that wider global investment engine, we have all that heritage, know-how and the risk systems and compliance that overlay what you would expect from a global investment manager”
