Table notesThe gross sales are an estimate of the investment and pensions products sold from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016, obtained through Strategic Insight's Financial Clarity product, which received information from providers, platforms and life and pension companies. Where applicable, we have included data from businesses' execution-only platforms. The figures have been rounded up, and in some cases two different ranks produce the same sales. Where two figures are similar they have been ranked by Strategic Insight according to their data. The table is a guide only. The different nature of the reports received does lead to bias towards firms that most trade directly with fund managers or through platforms rather than with life and pensions companies. Specifically, the sales figures include switches between funds as well as new business as fund managers are usually unable to differentiate the two sales that they report. Life and pensions companies do not tend to report fund switches. Share class conversions are not included. Only investments and pension sales have been included. Except for Hargreaves Lansdown, only firms whose primary business (ie a majority of sales) is classified by Strategic Insight as either financial advisers, wealth managers and banks are included. All appointed representatives are included within the figures for their principal(s) regardless of whether they would be big enough to have their own entry within the Top 100. Appointed representatives with two recognised investment network principals have been included in both except where both principals are within the same group. Directly authorised firms using service providers related to networks are not included within their sister network's figures. For the same reason service providers such as SimplyBiz and ThreeSixty do not appear in the list. Figures for some advisers may be understated where business is placed on white-labelled platforms. These include Best Practice and True Potential. IFDL has provided data regarding sales on Succession and Openwork's platform at their respective requests. Others may also be understated if they use nominee services or non-contributing platforms and life and pensions companies. Investment figures for St James's Place have been taken from the annual and interim report. CF30 numbers may include qualified staff who are actively advising customers. Certain firms no longer have CF30's registered against them following a change in the regulatory senior manager's regime in 2016.
