Industrialising Wealth Platform Migration: From a High-Stakes Gamble to Predictable Execution
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first confirmed climbers to summit Everest after nine failed attempts. Fast forward to 2024, and over 860 climbers reached the summit in a single season. What was once a heroic feat of endurance is now a matter of logistics, timing, and disciplined execution.
Wealth platform migration is undergoing a similar transformation. Once considered a high-risk, multi-year gamble, replatforming is now a repeatable, industrialised process—held back not by complexity, but by strategic hesitation.
Why Migration Is Easier Than Ever
Three forces have converged to make replatforming faster, safer, and more predictable:
Experienced “Sherpas”: Industry expertise is abundant—firms can now draw on proven playbooks.
Mapped Routes: End-to-end processes from discovery to reconciliation are well-defined and repeatable.
Modern Tooling: AI-assisted mapping, drag-and-drop ETL interfaces, and real-time validation reduce manual effort and errors.
Migration timelines have compressed from years to months. What was once a leap of faith is now a repeatable and managed transition - if firms adopt an industrial mindset.
Start with Why
Without a compelling case for action, migration stalls. Firms must articulate:
The reasons why.
Impact on fees, service, and investment access.
Opt-out mechanism and deadlines if using negative consent.
Done well, this builds trust and momentum across stakeholders—advisers, support staff, and clients.
Quantify the Firm-Level Benefits
Reduced cost to serve: Fewer legacy platforms mean lower operational overhead and compliance risk.
Digital-first experience: Low-effort, high-engagement investment journeys.
Embedded compliance: Automation and AI-assisted processes replace manual file-checking.
Real-time reporting: Dashboards deliver accurate data and insight
Revenue capture: Vertically integrated firms can adopt a Model B, retaining client ownership while outsourcing custody and tech and capturing a greater share of the revenue.
Define the Consent Strategy
Two approaches exist—each with trade-offs:
Key takeaways:
Consumer Duty is the anchor: Consent isn’t just about signatures—it’s about outcomes. If the replatforming improves cost, service, or access, and clients are informed, the FCA is more flexible.
Segmentation logic matters: Bulk approaches must be backed by a clear rationale.
Communication is king: Whether explicit or implied, disclosures must be timely, easy to understand, based on objective benefits to the customer, and offer opt-out pathways.
Consent is about outcomes, not signatures. If migration improves cost, service, or access—and clients are informed—the FCA is flexible.
Define the replatforming approach
The biggest mistake? Deploying a new platform for new business only—without a migration timeline. This delays benefits while doubling costs. There are three viable approaches:
Client-by-client at review: Adviser-friendly but slow (12+ months).
Batched client by client, conducted via a series of campaigns.
Bulk asset transfer from one custodian to another.
To create maximum value in the minimum timescales, the decision boils down to selecting between options 2 and 3. Both have their merits. Option 3 requires more upfront planning and execution validation (dry runs) but has the advantage of completing the migration over a weekend as a big bang. This is best suited when migrating a large book from a single legacy provider.
Option 2 allows for tranches of clients to be bulk migrated, but the transfer times are longer, typically between 1 and 2 weeks for fully automated transfers. This is a good approach for firms with multiple platforms seeking to rationalise over a period of time (months, not years).
Beware the Gotchas
Nucleus has been preparing for migration from Bravura to FNZ since early 2021, meaning the process has been underway for over four years. The replatforming has not yet been completed, with phased migrations expected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026. Why has it taken so long?
Cost absorption: FNZ is bearing the technology build costs, reducing pressure on Nucleus to move at pace.
FNZ capacity strain: FNZ is managing over £190bn in replatforming commitments across the UK, with contention arising in its delivery bandwidth.
Moving £43bn of assets is a big deal. The combined migration includes Nucleus, James Hay, and Curtis Banks, making it one if not the largest in-flight migrations in the UK.
Most platform migrations are nowhere near this scale or complexity. Seccl recently migrated over 300,000 Monzo customers in September 2025 from a standing start in January. Whilst this is to be applauded, it’s not an outlier but an example of increasingly common best “execution” practice.
What Good Looks Like
Best-practice migrations share these traits:
Clean, validated data.
Detailed asset analysis and client segmentation, including exclusion of clients that are not suitable for bulk (or any) migration.
Minimal firm effort, whilst leveraging SME knowledge and capabilities.
Low-effort engaging client journeys.
Early engagement with ceding platforms and providers.
Experienced delivery partners with proven tools and methodology.
Ready to replatform?
If your firm is shackled by legacy platforms and operational friction, we offer a two-day on-site diagnostic. We’ll define your optimum migration strategy, map client and firm benefits, and build dashboards that provide deep insights to enable you to answer the three exam questions: Why, How, and When.
Contact: dave.howard@wealthtechpros.com