Quilter tops lang cat’s advised platform sales chart as industry outflows rise

Quilter saw the industry’s highest platform sales in the second quarter of the year, according to the latest analysis from the lang cat.

The firm booked advised net sales of £1.178bn in the quarter to bring its total assets under administration to £80bn. It also topped the gross sales table with £2.91bn, which was the first time a platform has done the double since 2017.

Following Quilter in net sales terms were Aviva Platform, Transact, True Potential and AJ Bell Investcentre, as show below.

Advised gross sales for the quarter across the industry remained at similar strong levels to the first quarter. Total advised gross sales of £18.65bn represent some of the highest quarterly sales numbers since the record-breaking sales of 2021 and the DB transfer boom in 2017 and 2018, lang cat noted.

This was counterbalanced though by outflows continuing to rise for an eighth consecutive quarter, with a 2.6% increase to £15.77bn. The continuous rises mean advised outflows were up 30.4% year on year.

With gross sales flat and outflows rising, advised net sales only just reached positive territory at £2.88bn for the quarter, down 12.3% on the first quarter. 

See also: AJ Bell: UK equity income funds trump global and tech peers since cost-of-living crisis

The lang cat said across all platforms pensions continue to command a significant majority of net sales. ISAs continue to struggle, with more business leaving than coming for the last five quarters, and for seven of the last eight. 

M&G Wealth is excluded from the figures as its listed parent M&G has an embargo date of 4 September 2024. 

Rich Mayor, senior analyst at the lang cat, said: “There’s a continuation of strong gross flows into platforms again this quarter. Our recent research with advisers suggests that most of the business they’ve written this year has been transfer business, and transfers are included in the gross sales numbers we get from platforms.

“Some advisers are quite active in this space, and a surprising amount have told us they’ve chosen a new primary or secondary platform in the last year. But aside from the strong gross sales numbers it’s not all good, with outflows from advised platforms rising for the eighth quarter in a row.

“Advisers are still telling us it’s for the same main reasons: paying off mortgages and other debt, helping family members, and increased competition from products that are better in a high-interest rate environment like cash and annuities.”

See also: Gold hits record high: Fund picks to play precious metals

This article originally appeared on our sister publication, PA Adviser