Quilter assets under management increase despite market challenges

Wealth management firm Quilter announced that assets under management rose 5.1 per cent in the first three months of 2019 despite a “challenging” market environment.

Assets under management jumped from £109.3bn at the end of December last year to £114.9bn at the end of March 2019, the company announced in a first quarter update this morning.

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The firm saw net outflows of £200m in the quarter, down from £1.6 inflows in the first quarter of last year.

Excluding Quilter’s life assurance business, the firm secured net inflows of £500m, a drop from the £2bn reported in the same period of 2018.

Paul Feeney, Quilter chief executive, said: “As indicated in our full-year results, net client cash flows have continued to be affected by the challenging markets.

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“However, we continue to be encouraged by the resilience of integrated flows which have remained robust during this period, and the high level of customer asset retention across our business which was broadly stable on 2018 at 89 per cent.

“While near-term headwinds remain, this demonstrates that our clients and their advisers value Quilter’s integrated advice-led model, and continues to be supportive of our operating margin and revenue outlook.”