Net inflows fell 25% year-on-year to £1.2bn for AJ Bell’s platform business for the first quarter of 2023.

Gross inflows were £2.5bn, a fall of 7% (Q1 2022: £2.7bn), according to AJ Bell’s trading update published today.

However, despite the drop in flows, customer numbers for the platform business continued to increase.

Total advised customers at 31 March were 153,400, a 12% rise year-on-year and a 3% rise over the quarter.

Total customer numbers increased by 20,643 in the quarter to close at 455,008, up 13% year-on-year and 5% in the quarter.

The firm recently launched a TV advertising campaign.

Assets under administration closed at £68.6bn, a 3% rise both year-on-year and over the quarter.

The platform saw a strong end to the quarter with £1.2bn of gross inflows and £0.6bn of net inflows in March as customers and advisers took advantage of annual pension and ISA allowances.

AJ Bell’s investments business saw £0.5bn of net inflows in the quarter.

Assets under management for the investments business increased to £3.9bn, up 70% year-on-year and 15% over the quarter.

Michael Summersgill, CEO at AJ Bell, said: “I am pleased to report another quarter of robust trading performance which once again demonstrates the strength of our dual-channel business model. We have continued to grow customer numbers and assets under administration across the platform, building on our latest market share gains in both the advised and D2C markets.

“We added over 20,000 customers during the quarter and now have over 150,000 advised customers and over 300,000 DIY investors on our platform. The strength of our platform propositions continues to attract and retain high quality customers, with average customer portfolio sizes of £309,000 and £70,000 in the advised and D2C markets respectively and a customer retention rate in excess of 95%.”

He added that the recent changes to pension taxation are positive news for the platform market.

AJ Bell expects to announce its full results for the six months ended 31 March 2023 on Thursday 25 May 2023.