Nucleus Wrap

updated: August 6, 2010

It will be worthwhile for the reader to spend a moment understanding what we mean by three key terms.  In June 2007, the financial services regulator, the FSA, published a consultation paper entitled “Platforms: The Role of Wraps and Fund Supermarkets”.  Our Guide addresses all of the key issues surrounding platforms, so we will use the general thrust of its definitions for these three key terms, although in a much shortened fashion.

Platforms are online services, used by investment advisers to view and administer investment portfolios.  As well as providing facilities for investments to be bought and sold, platforms are used to aggregate, and arrange custody for, an investor’s assets.  A platform is therefore simply a mechanism for providing a service.

Wrap accounts are platforms that offer a range of assets types. The FSA paper lists Nucleus, Seven Investment Management and Transact as examples of Wrap providers.

Fund Supermarkets are platforms that offer a narrower focus of asset types. The FSA paper admits, however, that it is not clear whether this is a significant distinction, as many firms that started as fund supermarkets have expanded, or plan to expand, their product ranges.  The FSA paper lists Abbey, Cofunds, FundsNetwork, FundZone (Standard Life) as examples of fund supermarket providers.

To obtain further information please click here for our pdf Guide to Nucleus Wrap.