Platform assets jumped by 9% in the second quarter of this year, breaking through the £1.4 trillion mark for the first time.
A new report by Fundscape showed an AI bounce and an easing in the US-Israeli war on Iran pushed stock markets to new heights, with the S&P 500 and the FTSE All World surging by more than 14%.
Industry gross sales topped £50 billion for the third quarter running, with adviser platforms contributing £27 billion of that.
Meanwhile, all-channel net sales cooled sharply from last quarter’s £13 billion ISA-driven high, but Fundscape said advisers continued to “shrug off domestic and overseas politics” with another quarter of robust activity. Early ISA business and a scramble to get ahead of April 2027’s pension IHT changes kept the advice channel’s net-to-gross ratio above 20% for a second straight quarter. While pensions led the charge, the research found advisers are using a broader palette of tax wrappers.
Aegon topped the leaderboard for all-channel gross sales and AJ Bell for net. In the adviser platform channel, Quilter, Aviva and Transact kept their grip on adviser net sales, occupying the top three spots for the tenth quarter running and taking 85% of adviser net flows.
Bella Caridade-Ferriera, CEO of Fundscape, said: “Quilter, Aviva and Transact are getting service right and are making rain while much of the industry is under a hosepipe ban. Quilter is the standout performer with 44% of adviser platform net sales.
“The summer months will be lazy and sultry, but flows will pick up in September as speculation on Healey’s October budget intensifies. And after the drought this country’s had, literally and figuratively, a new budget and a new prime minister could be the oasis everyone’s looking for. The second half of the year won’t match the first, but it’ll probably be watertight.”
Main image: philipp-hubert-ZCexKfnqDdw-unsplash
