This latest survey, carried out in March, found that 70 per cent of advisors use wrap platforms, up from 63 per cent in September 2010.

Of those surveyed, 62 per cent use platforms to consolidate their client portfolios, while 31 per cent say that they use them to free up more time to spend on asset allocation and investment management.

Another key finding concerned the number of wrap platforms which IFAs typically use: about a third use two separate ones, but some 15 per cent of advisors say they regularly use four or more different platforms. 

In other findings, most respondents said that up to 10 per cent of their clients assets which are on a platform are in cash. However, some 4 per cent of advisors revealed their clients have more than a quarter of their “wrapped” assets in cash.

In response to this finding, Investec warns that cash deposits on wrap platforms are delivering very low returns. Those surveyed said that – on average – clients were receiving a return of 1.15 per cent on such cash deposits. Gloomier still, over a fifth of advisors said their clients wrapped cash deposits are returning less than the current Bank of England base rate of 0.5 per cent.