AJ Bell has seen its assets under administration (AUA) break through the £50bn mark in the three months to 30 June.
In a Q3 trading update today, the firm reported a 6% rise in AUA over the quarter and 13% over the past year, taking the total to stand at £50.7bn. This is up from £44.7bn during the same period last year.
Total customer numbers were also up 5% on the quarter from 191,874 last year to 224,644, with platform customer numbers increasing by 9,843 to 210,765.
Fundscape CEO Bella Caridade-Ferreira said: “It’s a solid set of numbers in what is a subdued and muted market overall. 2019 is likely to be as bad as 2018 if not worse so platforms like AJ Bell and Transact are delivering good results despite the softer market.”
Addressing user experience issues
But Altus Consulting director Simon Bussy said it was down to their focus on improving user experience.
In May this year, AJ Bell said it would be investing in its platform experience after it reported a 27% rise in profits for the six months to the end of March in its first set of results since listing last year.
Bussy said: “Following on from their strong half year results, AJ Bell has had another good trading quarter, the numbers continuing to evidence the progress they are making.
“Their focus on improving the customer experience at a competitive price point – including for less confident investors – is paying dividends as they continue to address the accusations in the past of being overly technical and not particularly user-friendly.
“This year the business has also broadened its routes to market, the B2B2C deal struck with Scalable Capital being a good example, and we expect to see a very positive end of year set of results in 3 months’ time.”
Platform assets grow
AJ Bell said its growth was driven by its platform business which saw AUA increase by 7% over the quarter to £43.4bn, up from £36.7bn in the three months to 30 June 2018.
It said platform assets were boosted by a combination of underlying net inflows of £1bn, defined benefit pension transfers of £0.2bn and favourable market movements of £1.6bn.
In comparison, the FTSE All-Share index increased by 2% over the quarter and fell by 3.5% over the year.
Andy Bell (pictured), chief executive officer at AJ Bell, said: “Trading in the third quarter of our financial year remained strong across our advised and direct to consumer platform. We continue to focus on the needs of advisers and customers, making it as easy as possible for them to invest and this has resulted in assets under administration breaking through the £50 billion mark.
“People need to save more via their pensions and ISAs for the long term and our platform and investment solutions help them do that easily and cost effectively.”
