Praemium's online portfolio administration service, V-Wrap attracted a record number of new sales in the past two months, increasing by 20 and 30 per cent in June and July respectively compared to the same period's last year.

Arthur Naoumidis, Praemium chief executive, said the boost in new portfolios and continued record sales meant financial planners are looking for alternatives to deliver a low cost service to clients.

"Advisers are now under increasing pressure to explain and minimise poor performance in portfolios to their clients," he said.

"With no short term signs of improvement in financial markets, advisers will have no choice but to closely examine the cost of investing and seek low cost solutions."

He said V-Wrap could save financial planning clients thousands of dollars in portfolio administration costs, and at the same time, deliver quality valuation and tax reporting services.

This announcement follows, Merrill Lynch Equities Australia selecting Praemium's V-Wrap to service its private client wealth management division in June.

Meanwhile, in April, Praemium and COIN launched a new interface between V-Wrap and the COIN financial planning software, which is designed to reduce the amount of required re-keying between the planning software and the administration service.

V-Wrap provides administration services to more than 37,000 portfolios, representing $29 billion in funds under administration.