AJ Bell’s assets under administration (AUA) jumped 8% to £70.4bn during the three months to the end of June, an increase of 30% for the year.
Over the same three-month period the FTSE All-Share Index rose by 4.8% and MSCI World Index rose by 7.2%.
The platform provider’s investments business saw its assets under management (AUM) climb to £2bn, a 43% increase over the three months and a 186% improvement over the year. Its platform business’s AUA closed the quarter at £63.1bn, up 9% on the previous quarter.
Net flows in the quarter climbed to £524m, up 115%, including a one-time deal worth £253m.
Underlying net flows for the quarter were up at £271m, an increase of 115% on the year before.
AJ Bell’s investment platform business saw its customer base increase by 21,023 over the quarter, taking the total to 353,299, up 32% over the year, and a 6% increase for the quarter.
Advised customers reached 122,757, up 15% over the last year, and D2C customers climbed to 230,542, up 42% over the last year and an 8% bump up for the quarter.
Platform net flows climbed to £2.1bn, 40% over the year.
AJ Bell chief executive Andy Bell (pictured) said: “Our easy to use, low-cost platform continues to drive our strong organic growth in both the D2C and advised markets, with platform customers up 32% over the year and net inflows up 40% compared to our third quarter last year.
“This helped total assets under administration hit the £70bn mark for the first time. Our investment business also performed well with assets under management reaching the £2bn milestone just six months after passing £1bn.”
“In the advised market, third quarter platform inflows were up 57% compared to the prior year. The introduction of simplified pension options is proving particularly popular with advisers as it provides them with different price points and flexible investment options to cater for a diverse range of client needs,” said Bell.
“We also continue to see strong demand for our in-house investment solutions. There is growing awareness amongst financial advisers of the value and performance that our managed portfolio service is delivering to their clients and our multi-asset funds continue to prove popular with advisers and retail customers alike.”
