Advised platforms saw strong AUM growth of 4.36%, with positive markets following the disruption around Liberation Day, and the best net sales since Q2 2022.
Net sales were aided by continued strong gross sales from advisers and outflows that fell by 4.11% to their lowest total since Q1 2024.
Research from the lang cat with advisers in August (n=120) suggests the trend in platform business has largely carried on and will do so into the third quarter. The lang cat thinks this could result in a record-breaking year for new business.
In terms of product sales, across all channels, ISA gross sales had their best quarter on record and net sales of £711m were the best since Q2 2022. The lang cat’s data also sees a return to positive net sales for ISAs for the first time since Q2 2022. The reported gold rush into Cash ISAs didn’t affect the majority of advised clients though, with most advisers saying their clients thought they wouldn’t be significantly affected.
Rich Mayor, senior analyst at the lang cat, said:
“We’re seeing a really strong year in terms of new business written by advisers on platforms. Even more encouraging is that advisers we spoke to said just over half of the business they wrote was new money coming onto platforms, rather than a transfer of existing assets from one to another.
That’s a good indication of future improved gross and net sales for platforms, and an improvement from when we tested this last year where most of the business being written was transfer business.
Outflows also fell again this quarter for the second in a row, and we’re seeing some good net flows which could prove all important this year for platform AUM growth if we see spikes in volatility in the second half.
In terms of the evolution of investments, we’ve heard some increased noise around access to private markets on platform. We’ve tested this with advisers this month and over half said that access to private markets – either on platform or elsewhere – isn’t needed for most of their clients. Just under a third thought they were too complex and had concerns around liquidity, and just under one in twenty saw it as an opportunity for their clients, with the preference of access to private markets being on platform.
That’s not all that much of a surprise to us, AUM in the advised platform space is overwhelmingly in funds and that needle hasn’t really moved over many years.”
