Platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell saw £1.9bn in outflows in its quarter ending 31 March despite customer numbers topping 500,000 for the first time, it reported today.

AJ Bell's advised platform saw £1.1bn in outflows with the D2C platform seeing £700m in outflows.

The outflows were due to a number of reasons, the firm said, including transfers-out and cash withdrawals.

Despite the outflows, the firm said gross and net inflows were “significantly” higher than the comparative quarter last year.

Customer numbers also rose by 19,000 in the quarter to top the half million milestone at 503,000, up 11% in the last year and 4% in the quarter

Total advised customers reached 165,000, up 8% in the last year and 2% in the quarter and total D2C customers were 338,000, up 12% in the last year and 5% in the quarter.

The firm saw record assets under administration of £80.3 billion, up 17% over the last year and 5% in the quarter

Total gross inflows in the quarter were £3.4 billion, up 36% versus prior year (2023: £2.5 billion) and total net inflows in the quarter were £1.6 billion, up 33% versus prior year (2023: £1.2 billion)

Better market market movements boosted AUA growth in the quarter by 3%.

At AJ Bell Investments assets under management (AUM) increased to £5.8 billion, up 49% over the last year and 12% in the quarter and net inflows in the quarter were £0.4 billion (2023: £0.5 billion).

AJ Bell CEO Michael Summersgill said the record customer numbers were a “milestone” for the firm.

He said: “Surpassing half a million platform customers is a significant milestone for the business which reflects the continued success of our dual-channel model. Having listed in 2018 with just under 200,000 platform customers, this landmark demonstrates the strong execution of our organic growth strategy set out at IPO. We remain committed to providing low-cost, easy-to-use products that can be trusted by customers and advisers, and our continued investment into our customer propositions puts us in an excellent position to deliver further strong organic growth in the future.

“We saw strong momentum in the run up to the tax year end as improving retail investor sentiment, together with continued investment in our brand and propositions, helped to deliver £1.4 billion of gross inflows in March alone, a new monthly record for the business. Over the course of the quarter our platform achieved significantly higher net inflows compared to the prior year, up 33% to £1.6 billion.

“AJ Bell has always had a strong focus on offering exceptional value to customers and our philosophy of sharing the benefits of scale with our customers as we grow remains key to our strategy. On 1 April we reduced our custody fees for advised customers and halved our headline dealing fee for D2C customers to £5. We also increased the interest rates payable on cash balances held across all our products, further strengthening our overall customer value proposition.

“We are excited about the forthcoming launch of our Ready-made pension service, which will help customers to easily consolidate their existing pensions with AJ Bell and invest them automatically via our low-cost, in-house investment solutions. Looking further ahead, the growth opportunity for the platform market remains significant and our ongoing brand investment will continue to drive increased awareness of AJ Bell, supporting our long-term growth ambitions.”