Advised platform net sales came in at £2.8bn in the second quarter of 2023, down -38% on the first quarter and the lowest quarterly net sales total on the lang cat’s records.
Net sales are low because money coming onto platforms has continued to fall, with advised gross sales down some -7.3% on Q1 to £14.9bn. Outflows rose to their highest quarterly level at £12.1bn, meaning 80p for every £1 that was added onto platforms between April and June also left.
Also, the lang cat revealed that Quilter has been closing on abrdn to become the largest UK advised platform by assets under administration (AUA) and did so in the second quarter of the year. Quilter now has £69.46bn AUA versus Abrdn’s £69.35bn. Transact is the third largest with £54.61bn.
The two most vertically integrated platform propositions in Quilter and True Potential once again topped the advised gross and net sales tables respectively.
Advised platforms experienced a mix of nominal growth or loss in total assets during the second three months of the year as the FTSE 100 fell by -0.31% over the same period.
Rich Mayor (pictured), senior analyst at the lang cat, comments: “We predicted three months ago that the first quarter might be the best we see for platforms in 2023, a forecast that’s been cemented further at the halfway point. Gross sales onto platforms are being hit by the ongoing economic headwinds we continue to see in the UK, and net sales are being reduced to all-time lows as outflows are at all-time highs.
“The $64m question is where is this money going? Platforms we spoke with noted an increase in client withdrawals from products to meet the demands of the cost-of-living crisis. We’re also hearing that some investors are looking to pay down lump sums on mortgages as their fixed deals come to end.
“For those with unencumbered properties we’re hearing from some advisers that clients are looking to partial and term annuities to help mitigate the more immediate market headwinds.”
| Platform | Advised AUA Q2 2023 | Platform | Advised gross sales Q2 2023 | Platform | Advised net sales Q2 2023 | ||
| Quilter | £69.46bn | Quilter | £1.97bn | True Potential | £851m | ||
| Abrdn | £69.35bn | Aviva | £1.56bn | Aviva | £655m | ||
| Transact | £54.61bn | Transact | £1.52bn | Transact | £626m | ||
| AJ Bell Investcentre | £47.80bn | True Potential | £1.36bn | Raymond James | £430m | ||
| Fidelity Adviser Solutions | £47.10bn | Abrdn | £1.31bn | Quilter | £413m |
And in other platforms news..
Also published today was interesting platform research from Fundscape which you might like to check out too.
