Net flows from advisers doubled in 2021 to £3.9bn for investment manager and platform provider Abrdn (2020: £1.9bn).

The year also saw a 14% increase in assets under administration across the Wrap and Elevate platforms.

In 2021 the platforms were used by over 2,600 advice firms (1% higher than 2020) on the behalf of 426,000 clients, according to Abrdn’s financial results published this morning.

Gross flows for the platforms grew 44% to £9.1bn (2020: £6.3bn).

Operating profit for the platforms business grew 54% due to the increase in revenues and drop in management costs.

Abrdn’s platform businesses’ cost/income ratio improved 7 points to 58%.

Fee-based revenue increased 30% to £178m, reflecting higher net flows and assets under administration, together with a £25m benefit from the simplification of arrangements with Phoenix.

Noel Butwell, CEO of Abrdn’s adviser business, said: “Advisers build their business on the goals of their clients. Our business is built on their ambition. Our vision for the partnerships we develop with advisers is about helping them to become the business they want to be and to deliver more to the clients they want to serve. This vision is based on three things: doing business their way, making things easy and putting our strength to work for them.”

Abrdn also increased its investment in its Financial Planning business in 2021 through the purchase of 40m ordinary shares for a cash consideration of £40m.

Assets under management and advice for Abrdn's personal arm, which includes its Financial Planning and discretionary propositions, rose to £14bn in 2021 (2020: £13bn).

The Financial Planning arm saw a client retention rate of 95% and £350m of flows into Abrdn's Wrap. Client numbers rose to over 28,000 (2020: 24,500).

The overall Abrdn business reported an increase in revenue for the year for the first time since the merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management.

Overall fee-based revenue grew 6% to £1.5bn (2020: £1.4bn).

Adjusted operating profit rose 47% to £323m, with “strong growth” recorded across investments, adviser and personal.

The group continued to record net outflows for its investments division, but the position improved with £7.6bn of outflows in comparison to £15.8bn in 2020.

The group also saw a record £8.9bn in discretionary assets under management.

Stephen Bird, CEO of Abrdn, said: "This was our reset year. In 2021 we set out a clear strategy for how we will create long-term sustainable growth and arrest the decline in revenue. Today I am very pleased to report strong progress for this first year of our three year plan. We are delivering on our strategy for growth.”