INTRODUCTION
Dear Adviser
Welcome to August’s Adviser Update. I am excited to share three big announcements.
First, we are launching the Transact podcast to explore trends and insights in our industry. I will be interviewed in the first episode, but future episodes will focus on platform improvements, adviser interviews and financial planning insights from our technical team. I hope you find time to download and listen at a convenient time in your busy schedules. You will be able to access them via Apple and Spotify in September after the launch.
Second, we will be moving to a new London office! From 8 September 2025, our new address will be 2 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7AD. The new office is a modern and collaborative environment and follows recent investment in new technology to help improve the service we offer to you and our mutual clients. We will move in phases to manage our service for advisers and clients. Our phone numbers and email addresses will stay the same. To help with the transition we’ll share a reminder in September. As with usual practice, any post sent to our old address will be automatically redirected for a period of time. Please update your records and discard any old forms or documents from that date.
Third, we were delighted to be rated Best Platform in the Professional Paraplanner Awards. It is important to us that advisers, administrators and paraplanners all value our platform service. I am excited about this award because paraplanners are technical experts who interact regularly with the Transact platform. I believe our breadth of wrappers, reporting capabilities and service levels were important factors for this Award. Thank you for your ongoing support.
We are trying hard to make the shift to compulsory multi-factor authentication (MFA) as smooth as possible. MFA usage has more than doubled in the past couple of weeks since we released online prompts. Thank you. To support this programme, we have delivered new trusted device functionality. Selecting ‘trusted device’ means you do not need to use MFA (multi-factor authorisation) every time you log in. If you haven’t set this up yet, please follow the onscreen reminders and step by step instructions. MFA will be compulsory for advisers by September and clients by December.
Often my introduction calls out new functionality we have just released. However, this month I also wanted to share some stats on functionality from last month. We launched our ‘reattempt rebalance’ functionality to reduce the number of clients who aren’t automatically rebalanced due to other pending transactions when the first attempt is made. The stats show that 96.7% of all re-balances were successful, most of the remainder were either cancelled or re-balanced separately. This is a great result with the new functionality saving you time and reducing risk in your business.
Our technical team are increasingly active with advisers across the country. The team produce regular articles published here and on our website. This update includes further clarity and an update on IHT and pensions following last year’s budget announcement. We also include a summary of the flexibility ISAs provide giving context to the future financial landscape following the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech. This includes proposals to extend the list of permissible investments to include long-term asset funds and plans to increase access to retail investments and encourage long-term investment to improve prosperity. In it we share our views and support for the need for independent financial advice. Please take the time to read them as they may give you some insights or ideas that could help your clients.
- IHT and pensions – further clarity and procedural update in article 7.
- Flexibility and ISAs: Current rules and planning opportunities in article 8.
- Mansion House and beyond in article 9.
Please call our direct technical line if yo#_9._Investment_Bondsu want to discuss any of these articles in more detail on (020) 7608 5330 or email technical_direct@integrafin.co.uk.
After the summer break our events restart across the country. If you haven’t been to a Transact event before, please sign up! Please also think about any of your colleagues who might benefit from a Transact event – maybe they don’t love Transact quite as much as you do. We receive fantastic feedback from our events, and we’d love to see a few more new faces attending. We have our flagship half-day Connect events in Warrington, Cardiff and London with the Transact Executive team, guest speakers and opportunities to share experiences with other advisers.
You can also register to attend one of our personal breakfast events in September and October to meet your regional BDM, ASM, our Head of Distribution with other local advisers. Glen Sweet has retired, and Stuart Fleat is our new Head of Distribution (see picture). A full list of events and joining instructions can be found here. Register now to avoid missing out.
And finally, a quick reminder to complete our Adviser Survey if you haven’t already, it’s open until Friday 29 August. Your feedback plays a key role in shaping the future of our service and tools. Click here to take the survey.
Kind regards,
Tom Dunbar
Chief Executive Officer
1. Introduction
2. Transact Online (TOL) – Recent enhancements
3. Latest news on integrations
4. Removal of purchase related fees
5. Listen out for the Transact podcast
6. Transact – BlackRock MPS update
7. IHT and pensions – further clarity and procedural changes.
8.Flexibility and ISAs: current rules and planning opportunities.
9. Mansion House and beyond
10. Interest on cash
11. Transact events 2025