After a turbulent two years platforms are beginning to show signs of recovery with assets up, according to a new study by platform consultancy the lang cat.

Advised platform asset grew by over £29bn (5.34%) to £575.14bn in Q4 2023, up from £545.96bn in Q3 2023, latest figures show. 

Lang Cat the figures suggest that despite headwinds in place there was “respite” for platforms in Q4.

Despite the improvement in assets, helped by stock market improvements, there were still signs of difficulties for platforms, particularly on outflows as investors pulled money out.

Outflows still “hammered” net sales, said Lang Cat, slumping to their lowest total of just £1.17bn in Q4 2023.

Out of 21 advised platforms, over half (11) recorded negative net sales. The 11 platforms represent £279.77bn of advised assets – 49% of total advised platform AUM. 

Advised platform outflows were up 6.88% (£14.89bn) on Q3 2023 (£13.93bn), hitting a record high of £53.18bn for 2023. 

Advised platforms net sales slumped to lowest total of just £1.17bn in Q4 2023 – down 70.11% on Q4 2022 (£3.92bn). In Q4 advised outflows were £14.89bn, up from £13.93bn in Q3 and a total of £53.5bn for 2023, up over a third on 2022 (£39.01bn). 

While outflows were a cause for concern assets across all channels improved for every platform during Q4 2023, the first time this has happened since Q4 2021.

Growth to the tune of around £30bn in advised platforms, was driven by market optimism as interest rates looked to have peaked and inflation came down, the Lang Cat said.    

Quilter topped the gross sales charts with True Potential topping net sales. 

Lang Cat said figures were relatively good for vertically integrated models such as True Potential which once again topped the advised net sales table with £0.77bn for Q4 2023. It’s been top for nine out of 12 of the last 12 quarters, and in the top three each time.  

Quilter extended its lead over Abrdn as the largest advised platform by around £3bn to total £73.85bn in advised AUM. Quilter once again brought in the most gross salesand is the only platform to have crossed the £2bn+ quarterly sales milestone since Q1 2022.   

Rich Mayor, senior analyst at the Lang Cat, said: “The growth we’ve seen in platform assets provides some welcome respite for platforms following a couple of years of tumult, but the path ahead is still fraught with headwinds. We’re not expecting outflows to slow dramatically over the coming months, even with inflation falling to its lowest levels for some time, and interest rates possibly following suit. We’ve more uncertainty ahead in the form general elections and increased regulator activity. We expect to see growth in AUM in 2024 to be mostly dictated by markets and for net sales to remain at a lower level.   

 “That Quilter and True Potential top leader boards for gross and net sales yet again shows a success story for vertical integrators while ‘pure’ IFA platforms have found it tough.”