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In our first blog on CIPs in 2026: Tuning the Engine for Growth, our latest research with the lang cat, we looked at the case for formal governance when outsourcing a CIP, including robust documentation and monitoring processes. Now we’re turning our attention to how firms interact with their providers to make sure they are getting the best value from outsourcing.

When selecting any provider, whether platform or investment manager, advisers will be conducting research and due diligence. The most important factor here is ensuring individual client suitability, but good research and due diligence will go beyond that.

We believe advice firms should be more demanding of the providers they entrust with client wealth. This should include being clear about where responsibilities lie, how advisers want to be supported, and the service standards expected. They should also have a process in place for switching if a provider fails to live up to that standard. At Copia we welcome having these conversations with the advice firms we support. We would encourage other firms to be mindful over how their providers approach the issue. 

Selection process

Data from the lang cat’s Analyser due diligence tool finds that advisers, rightly, look at service, reputation, financial strength and technology alongside price when assessing investment platforms. However, the Analyser data shows when it comes to MPS provider selection, the emphasis is mainly on price and past performance. These are important metrics, but they are relied upon disproportionately compared with other factors.

This lack of granularity continues once an MPS provider is in place. Our 2026 CIP research found that over 80% of advisers said persistent underperformance against the benchmark or peer group would trigger a deeper review or a change of provider. Poor service or reporting was the next most cited trigger, at 71% and an increase in charges or concerns about cost and value came third at 63%. By contrast fewer than half (48%) of advisers identified risk drift or volatility mismatch as a trigger and just 27% cited too high model turnover or excessive trading.

It is up to advice firms to decide what is important to them, and we encourage firms to share this with providers so all parties are clear on the outcomes that are expected. Provider due diligence is part of the CIP documentation the FCA already expects firms to keep, and criteria for ongoing monitoring is a vital part of this documentation so it’s worth reviewing if you’re updating your CIP paperwork.

Switching triggers

As firms get more rigorous in assessing MPS providers, it’s worth setting a formal procedure for what would trigger a switch and how it would be handled. There are a few questions worth considering.

• What would trigger the switch? Have clear thresholds and red lines for switching, beyond just price and performance.
• What would happen next? Think about the practicalities of switching and whether a substitute provider has already been identified.
• What would you need to tell clients? Put procedures in place around what would be communicated to clients, when and how, including assessing the level of detail and tone required for different clients, taking any vulnerability factors into account.
• What would you need from the provider? Consider ahead of time what you’d need from a provider if a switch became necessary, both for your own governance processes and for client communication.

Looking ahead

Across our three CIP studies, we’ve found that a key driver behind the move to outsourcing has been CIPs becoming a victim of their own success. Growth in client banks and assets can reach a tipping point where running investments in-house creates an unmanageable operational burden. As well as having strong governance in place, firms also need to stay adaptable.

Establishing formal governance processes and holding providers to account will cover most of what’s needed to run a CIP well when outsourcing investment for the majority of their clients’ assets. But it’s worth anticipating what may need to change as the firm changes. In our final blog of the series, we look at what advisers should keep in mind about the direction their CIP needs to take as their business grows and the market and regulations change.