New business and existing business rank highest in importance
Advisers ranked New business administration first, followed by Existing business administration and Online facilities.
Defaqto undertakes an annual satisfaction survey among financial advisers to establish the service levels of providers of wealth and protection products. This paper sets out the results for the platform market in 2026.
The findings are based on adviser feedback and form the basis of the Defaqto Service Ratings awarded from 1 February 2026, providing a structured, adviser-led benchmark of service standards across platform providers
Satisfaction levels range from 70% to 84% across disciplines
New business achieved the highest satisfaction level at 84%, while Technical assistance recorded 70%.
Performance varies by service discipline
Highest scoring providers differ across transition and implementation, administration, reporting, online facilities and technical assistance when results are weighted by adviser-ranked importance.
Fundment ranked first overall for platform service in 2026
Based on total above average scores weighted by the importance attributed to each service discipline.
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The analysis assessed performance across seven key platform service disciplines, combining satisfaction scoring with adviser-ranked importance to determine overall Service Ratings.
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Advisers were asked to nominate providers they had placed business with in the previous 12 months and to rank them in order of preference where more than one provider was selected.
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Satisfaction was scored using a 1 to 5 scale, where 5 represents very satisfied and 1 represents very dissatisfied.
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Defaqto calculates a satisfaction index for each provider by assessing the proportion of above average scores and weighting the result according to the importance advisers assign to each discipline. The Service Rating is based on these indexes, with 70% of the average importance ordinarily being the Gold benchmark.
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When weighted by importance, highest scoring providers differ by discipline, highlighting variation in operational performance across transition and implementation, administration, reporting, online facilities and technical assistance.
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Based on total above average scores across all disciplines, Fundment ranked first overall for platform service in 2026.
Read the full report