Advised net inflows held steady at £0.9bn for investment platform AJ Bell for the quarter ending 31 March, as advised customers rose 14%.

Platform net inflows increased by 13% year on year to £1.8bn, predominantly driven by D2C net inflows which rose 29% to £0.9bn and made up half of the inflows for the quarter to the platform.

Andy Bell, CEO at AJ Bell, attributed the rise in D2C inflows to growing numbers of younger people joining the platform as they look to take control of their long-term financial future via pensions and ISAs.

The investment platform continues to see a large rise in D2C customers which now represent 64% of all its platform customers. Total platform customers closed the quarter at 332,276, a rise of 34% year on year and an 11% rise over the quarter. Advised customers numbers rose 14% year on year to 118,509 and D2C customers rose 48% year on year to 213,767.

Mr Bell said that the adviser platform saw its largest ever quarterly increase in new customers.

Platform assets under administration closed at £58bn, a rise of 38% year on year and 5% over the quarter.

The average customer portfolio on the platform is £79,000.

For AJ Bell Investments, net inflows for the quarter were £311m, a rise of 132% year on year. Assets under management increased to £1.4bn, a rise of 180% year on year and 40% over the quarter.

Mr Bell attributed the growth for AJ Bell Investments to the growth in popularity of its managed portfolio service, multi-asset funds and in particular its Responsible Growth fund with financial advisers.

AJ Bell expects to announce its full results for the six months ended 31 March on 27 May.