The most recent instalment of the ISS model portfolio sales report recently landed in our inbox and we’ve given it a thorough scan. 

Its research bods found outsourced MPS sales continued to grow strongly during the first half of 2024 but the growth of insourced solutions has begun to fall away somewhat. 

"When we look at the universe of what we define as in-house solutions, they tapered off in terms of growth – we didn't see as large books of business moving into those programs as we'd seen in the previous period,” the report’s author, Benjamin Reed-Hurwitz, told Asset Allocator. 

The report found model portfolio sales grew by just 6 per cent over H1 2024, down from 13 per cent in the same period a year earlier. 

But according to Reed-Hurwitz this is due to an exceptionally strong sales environment at the end of 2023 which accounted for a large bulk of portfolio reallocations which were behind the ‘rocketing’ growth of MPS as a whole. 

Their report suggests a normalisation, a maturing of the market as model portfolios are no longer the ‘shiny new product’ for advisers. 

Quilter, Tatton and Parmenion were the three bestselling providers (in that order) through this year so far, marking the first time in a while that Timeline has dropped out of the top three. 

And interestingly, almost half of all underlying funds sold by providers have an OCF of below 20 basis points, indicating just how integral passives are in the sales process.