Transact

Transact is a “wrap” platform which is operated by Integrated Financial Arrangements plc.

A "wrap" differs from fund supermarkets and platforms in some important ways. Clients can be confident that they are paying the same adviser fee, irrespective of any fund selected. In this way there can be no chance of "commission bias".

Transact is an integrated portfolio service and is only available through Independent Financial Advisers such as ourselves. Transact is not a product in the conventional sense but merely an effective way of handling investment products through a centralised buying, selling and reporting service. By opening a Transact account for the investment portfolio, we can arrange all the investments, including cash, on terms that will often be better than those that could be obtained by dealing direct with the individual investment institutions chosen.

Advantages

• Transact gives access to a broad choice of investments and all the deals are carried out by Transact and held in one place. This streamlined system reduces administration and allows us greater time to handle the more important aspects of fund selection and management.

• By investing funds through the Transact platform we are usually able to achieve a reduction on the annual management charges imposed by the various investment institutions. Although Transact levy a charge to administer your portfolio, the savings they are able to secure on charges imposed by product providers often negates the Transact charges. Some funds with a higher “retail” cost will be cheaper within the platform.

• The cost of switching funds between different fund management groups is cheaper within Transact than direct with fund providers

• Through Transact we can buy any collective investment fund available ion the UK and are not limited to a restricted choice imposed by them. This is not true of all platforms.

• As we apply the same remuneration structure irrespective of fund manager or fund, you can be assured that there can be no “bias” in selecting investment houses and funds; the criteria applied are those of investment performance and suitability.

• The savings in time and paperwork, coupled with the ability for us to move funds without resorting to cumbersome form filling and telephone calls to fund managers, the ease at which we can obtain valuations and analyse your holdings without any additional cost (depending on the level of service selected), far outweigh any small additional cost.
   

• You will no longer receive copious quantities of mail from each individual product provider as all details come to you via a six monthly consolidated report from Transact.

Disadvantages

• Some funds that have a lower “retail” cost actually cost you more within the platform.
   

• The overall cost may be higher than can be obtained by dealing directly with product and fund managers. If cost is the primary concern over and above functionality and access to the entire range of investment funds then this may not be the most appropriate product for you.

• If you do not either need to or wish to take advantage of the facilities that a platform offers then you may be paying for features that you do not use.

How we are paid

We are paid via Transact from the charges levied for handling your account. We take our pre-agreed initial fee from any new monies placed onto the platform. Our on-going servicing costs are covered by a quarterly adviser fee, the level of which will depend on our individual agreement.

Migration of Existing Investments

Having established a Transact portfolio it is a relatively simple task to transfer existing holdings to this platform. Most providers will transfer "in specie" in that they merely migrate existing fund holdings across to the Transact platform. Others however will not do "in specie" transfers (in the case of ISAs and PEPs, although most do) and in these circumstances the assets are sold and cash is sent across to Transact. Where the latter applies, this does not prevent the funds retaining their tax advantaged status providing the monies are reinvested through Transact without too much delay

We do not normally take any fees for moving your existing investments into the Transact platform, but for any first switches of funds which were originally transferred into Transact in specie, or repurchases of those transferred in cash, we will take our normal fee.