Adviser platform Transact has reported net inflows during the quarter to the end of September of £720m, down from £1.3bn on the same period in 2021.

Gross inflows for the three months were £1.5bn, down from £1.97bn.

Net inflows to the Transact platform for the financial year ended 30 September 2022 were £4.4bn, down from £4.9bn in 2021.

Alex Scott, chief executive officer said despite the falls he was pleased with the figures against a backdrop of a “difficult market environment.”

He said: “The Transact platform is utilised by clients and advisers for long-term Financial Planning, therefore, Transact platform outflows have remained relatively stable during the course of the year. This has contributed to our continued very high retention rate of funds under direction on the Transact platform of 94% for the financial year.”

The Transact platform's adviser base rose 5% over the year with 7,500 advisers registered at the end of September, 376 higher than 2021.

Meanwhile there were 224,700 clients on the Transact platform, up 8% from 30 September 2021 and some 16,000 higher than 2021.

Average funds under direction (FUD) on the platform were £52.5bn, up from an average during 2021 of £47.2bn.

Mr Scott said: “We are mindful of the difficult economic environment and the significant volatility in asset markets, however we expect the performance of the Transact platform to remain robust during the forthcoming financial year, with new clients and advisers joining, and continued resilient flows onto the Transact platform.” 

The platform added a Blackrock-run model portfolio service (MPS) in September to extend its choice of discretionary investment managers. MPS is available exclusively to Transact platform clients.

Meanwhile the development of subsidiary Time4Advice's CURO 365 software remains on schedule and is planned for release to a beta client for live testing by the end of the year, the company reported.

“At a time of economic uncertainty, clients rely even more on the support and knowledge of their financial adviser,” Mr Scott said.

He said the company’s business model was centred on providing long-term support for clients and their financial advisers.

“We will continue to advance the development of our proprietary software, and we will train users in how to best use the extensive functionality now available. All of this will enable our clients, with their advisers, to stay on track with their long-term financial plans.”

Transact’s parent company Integrafin is involved in an ongoing VAT battle with HMRC. A review by HMRC led to the decision to exclude one of Integrafin’s companies from the UK VAT group. The VAT is related to internal charging mechanisms within the Integrafin group and is expected to have no bearing on adviser or client fees.

The company was first hit with an unexpected £4.3m VAT bill in January 2020.