AJ Bell doubles net inflows as customers flock to its plaform
AJ Bell doubled its net inflows in the first quarter as it continued to attract new customers to its platform.
In a trading update the investment platform said total net inflows in the first quarter reached £1.6bn, double the level reported in the same period last year.
Shares in the investment platofrm dipped 0.86 per cent by mid-morning.
Total assets under administration increased to £62.5bn, up 11 per cent over the quarter and 14 per cent in the last 12 months.
The rise in assets was largely credited to market movements in the first quarter. As other companies struggle amid the pandemic AJ Bell has somewhat benefited from the turbulence with £4bn coming from the market and other movements.
AJ Bell’s platform business saw inflows of £0.8bn from advised clients and £0.7bn from its direct-to-consumer offering. It came as the FTSE firm’s platform customer numbers grew by 16,959 in the quarter, an 88 per cent increase on the same period last year.
“We have had a strong start to our financial year as customer numbers, net inflows, AUA and AUM all showed significant growth in the quarter,” chief executive Andy Bell said.
““In the D2C market we continued to see increased demand for our easy-to-use, low-cost investment platform, enabling our customers to control and manage their investments and long-term savings.”
Reporting for the first time AJ Bell Investments’ assets under management broke through the £1bn milestone, doubling the value of assets compared to a year earlier. The division also saw net inflows of AUM in the quarter rise 91 per cent compared to the first quarter to £147m.
“Our market leading platform propositions and investment solutions position us well to benefit from the need for people to take control of their long-term financial affairs and we approach the traditionally busy tax year end period with confidence,” Bell added.