More than nine in 10 (91%) financial advisers are using managed portfolio services (MPS) for their clients, with usage set to grow further, research from Charles Stanley has revealed.

It found that 9% of advisers using an MPS provider used just one, while 46% used two to support their work with clients, and 45% used three or more.

Charles Stanley, which is part of Raymond James Wealth Management, noted that the usage of MPS was expected to increase.

Nine in 10 (90%) advisers expected to use or rely on MPS more over the coming 12 months, with 41% expecting to use them a lot more and 49% set to use them ‘marginally’ more.

More than two thirds (68%) of current MPS users said they were looking to increase the number of MPS providers they use.

Charles Stanley argued this meant MPS providers had considerable opportunities to help serve advisers as they sought to scale their business offerings and provide flexible solutions for clients.

When asked how MPS had helped them in their day-to-day jobs, 34% cited the provision of performance comparisons when it came it investments and portfolios.

This was followed by MPS offering more scalability for different client sizes (32%), being able to have a greater focus on offering quality advice and service to clients (32%), and providing cost efficiency when it came to reviewing the market and investment options (32%).

The research also found advisers were supported by the ability to access more specialist knowledge and broader research sources, assistance in business growth without the overheads, improved reporting, and time efficiency.

Almost all (99%) advisers using MPS were confident in their providers’ ability, consisting of 64% who were very confident and 35% who were somewhat confident.

“MPS have had a formidable growth trajectory in recent years as they offer significant benefits and value to advisers,” commented Charles Stanley head of sales, Paul Measures.

“As advisers also look to scale efficiently under Consumer Duty, MPS has become an essential part of their centralised investment and retirement propositions.

“We fully expect this to grow further, especially when we consider nine in 10 advisers currently use the service, and a further nine in 10 say they’ll rely on it more over the next 12 months.

“We are seeing demand from firms wanting flexible, outcome-oriented portfolios that free up time to focus on what matters most: building outstanding client relationships and outcomes.”

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