Total advised customer numbers for platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell rose 10% year-on-year to 156,368 for the quarter ending 30 June.

The increase was a 2% rise during the quarter, according to a trading statement released this morning.

Total D2C customers rose 12% year-on-year to 309,246.

Assets under administration for the platform closed the quarter at £69.8bn, a 10% rise year-on-year, the company reported today.

Net inflows for the quarter fell year on year to £1.1bn (2022: £1.6bn) with gross inflows for the quarter at £2.4bn (2022: £2.6bn).

Discretionary service AJ Bell Investments saw assets under management increase to £4.3bn, a 10% rise over the quarter.

Net inflows were £0.4bn, a 33% rise on the previous year (2022: £0.3bn).

Michael Summersgill, CEO at AJ Bell, said: “In the advised market there has been a moderation in transfer activity as advisers and their clients exercise more caution in the face of ongoing uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment. Despite that, we attracted £0.4 billion of net inflows to our advised platform during the quarter and added almost 3,000 new customers.

“More broadly, we are well prepared for the implementation of the new Consumer Duty coming into force at the end of this month. We believe this will be positive for consumers, with an increased focus on value for money and ensuring good customer outcomes set to improve standards within the market.

"It is important that there is no delay beyond the next year in the new duty applying to legacy pension schemes, particularly given the FCA has recently stated that savers in older schemes may be at greatest risk of poor value for money.

“We continue to see significant opportunities for growth in the platform market and believe we are well positioned to capitalise on these in both the advised and D2C segments.”