For many wealth and asset managers, managing investment product universes is a time-consuming, error-prone process. Whether it is tracking fund availability across platforms, managing rebates and model portfolios, or ensuring product-specific transparency, the administrative burden is high and often handled manually via spreadsheets or clunky interfaces. 

At Kidbrooke®, we have developed a modern solution to this challenge. Our Product Universe solution, part of the KidbrookeONE ecosystem, brings order and automation to an area of wealth management long overdue for innovation. 

The challenges of traditional product universe management 

Most wealth management institutions, particularly those offering occupational pension advice or platform-based investment products, work with a wide array of fund providers and insurance platforms. These platforms may each offer multiple product universes, tailored to different client segments or contractual arrangements. 

Manually managing all of this, especially across different interfaces or Excel uploads is not only time-intensive but also introduces a significant risk of human error. 

Let us break down some of the most common issues: 

1. Fragmented and manual data uploads 
Insurers typically upload their product universe data manually from poorly designed interfaces. This can result in fragmented datasets delivered in inconsistent formats. Intermediaries must then manually consolidate multiple product universes from various insurers into their own systems. Without efficient API integrations, this process is slow, error-prone, and difficult to scale. 

2. Lack of transparency around fees and rebates 
Errors often occur when manually entering rebate or fee data. Even a small mistake e.g., entering a fee of 1.5% instead of 1%, can erode trust and regulatory compliance. Furthermore, insurers may offer different rebates depending on distribution agreements, further complicating tracking.

3. Poor version control and oversight 
Managing multiple product universes across different platforms without a consolidated interface can lead to duplication, outdated information, or gaps in product offerings. This not only affects internal operations but also the customer experience. 

Introducing Kidbrooke’s product universe solution 

Kidbrooke’s Product Universe solution is a robust, operational-ready system designed to simplify and centralise the complex workflows involved in managing product universes. It is available both as a user-friendly interface and as a seamless API integration—ideal for firms looking to enhance automation without committing internal development resources.  

Whether your organisation prefers a low-code interface or full integration into existing infrastructure, the KidbrookeONE Product Universe module is built to support your operations at scale. Designed with flexibility in mind, it allows intermediaries, insurers, and asset managers to streamline uploads, improve data transparency, and maintain consistency across their product offerings. 

Here is how it helps:

• Platform and universe consolidation – users can manage multiple platforms, from different fund providers, within a single dashboard. Each platform’s product universes can be viewed, edited or added directly via the interface. No need to toggle between systems or manually sync different sources. 
   
• Easy uploads and batch operations – users can upload Excel files directly into the interface using an intuitive batch upload system. The tool validates entries, provides feedback on errors, and ensures the data is clean before integration. 
   
• Fund-level configuration with fee rebates – each fund within a universe can be managed individually. Users can assign product-specific fees or discounts (rebates) that reflect negotiated terms improving transparency and reducing the likelihood of costly input errors. These fees can vary per platform or even per client segment. 
   
• Model portfolio management – advisers can build and manage model portfolios within a specific product universe. For example, if a client is linked to a particular insurance company and product set, they will only be shown portfolios available to them. Each portfolio can be edited, ranked, and assigned a risk classification making portfolio management consistent and aligned with firm-specific policies. 
   
• Sustainability and ESG data integration – the platform also supports ESG metrics such as sustainability scores and carbon footprint disclosures. These can be uploaded via Excel or eventually managed directly within the interface. Insurers or fund providers can maintain this data themselves, reducing dependency on intermediaries. 
   
• Real-world impact: solving tedious workflows – this modular tool is already deployed by financial institutions managing multi-platform fund universes and has proven effective in real-world environments. By offering an end-to-end digital workflow and API-first architecture, the solution fits naturally into existing tech stacks, helping firms reduce manual workloads, ensure accuracy, and improve oversight from day one. 

To illustrate the everyday challenges this tool resolves, consider a typical scenario faced by one of the Nordic region’s leading pension advisory platforms, Max Matthiessen. They regularly receive product universe data from several insurance providers, each offering slightly different product selections depending on the client’s profile or the specifics of their contract. Previously, managing this data was a somewhat cumbersome manual process, which was prone to data entry issues, making it difficult to ensure transparency. 

With the Kidbrooke® Product Universe solution, this workflow has been significantly improved. Max Matthiessen can now manage their product universes with ease, validating data instantly. The platform allows them to manage multiple universes per insurer, apply accurate fees, and create consistent portfolios tied to each universe. Sharing their experience with our Product Universe solution:  

“Yes, the implementation of Kidbrooke’s solution has significantly improved the way we work with model portfolios and the management of product universes. What used to be a labor-intensive, complex, and manual process reliant on difficult Excel updates has now been replaced by a modern, user-friendly, and automated system. This has also allowed us to eliminate key person dependencies in the process, which previously posed a risk. Our biggest gains: 

• Time savings – by being able to upload and validate product data in batches directly through the interface, we have significantly reduced administrative time. 
• Improved data quality and reduced risk of errors – the system’s built-in validation helps us quickly detect and correct errors, which has improved both transparency and regulatory compliance. 
• Simplified portfolio management – we can build, edit, and link model portfolios to specific product universes, creating clarity both internally and for the customer. 

In summary, Kidbrooke’s solution has enabled us to work in a more structured, secure, and scalable way. It is an important step in our digitalisation journey and a solution that adds value both in our daily operations and in our strategic development going forward.” 

Looking forward, insurers and fund providers themselves could be granted access to manage their own universe entries directly, streamlining updates in real time and reducing duplication across the entire value chain. 

A clear path toward automation and scale 

As more wealth management firms strive to digitise their operations and scale their services, centralised product universe management becomes critical. The interface provided by Kidbrooke® offers a path toward: 

Operational efficiency – less time spent uploading or editing data manually 

Regulatory confidence – improved data integrity and auditability 

Client transparency – up-to-date fees, portfolios and ESG ratings visible in one place 

Scalability – as more insurers and platforms plug into the same interface, the entire ecosystem becomes more connected and efficient 

Kidbrooke’s team is already exploring more ways to add value to the Product Universe solution. For instance, future updates could include visualisation of fund performance and ESG ratings, automated forecasts or fund comparisons, alerts when universe updates are due or incomplete, as well as  performance benchmarking of model portfolios.These enhancements would support both advisory and operational roles within wealth management firms. 

To learn more about transforming your investment product universe management, get in touch or book a demo here. 

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