Platforms should be wary of cutting options: Experts

Experts have warned that cutting too many options on platforms could restrain client choice.

Speaking at the Morningstar Investment Conference 2026 in Sydney, BT Financial Group chief executive Matt Rady noted the role of platforms as a core component of the financial system enabling efficient transition of capital, and it would be dangerous for platforms to shrink options too much.

"The capital system actually requires us a bit like the ASX to enable efficient movement of money and creation of new structures. I think sometimes the regulators just need to have that perspective of just how relevant we are in the overall industry," he said.

AMP group executive of platforms Edwina Maloney said there is also a mistaken view among regulators that you do not need a lot of options for the same assets on a platform.

"We need to educate the regulators around what that choice is designed to provide, and that it is very important to provide optionality and choice," she said.

"You could destroy your Australian share public markets capital issuance here if we push too far down a certain path, and that's not the role of a platform either."

Maloney said the North platform is getting "much sharper" in removing investment options that are not scaling rather than leaving them to linger on the menu. She added the trend historically has been to leave small options to "wither on the vine".

"I think that will stop...we will be culling more regularly what sits on the platform," she said.

While she said AMP is adding options on the platform all the time, it is being more circumspect with how many it adds to ensure there is actual demand for them.