Transact quarterly flows and assets drop
Adviser platform Transact saw net inflows of £1bn for the quarter ended 30 June as net inflows and assets dropped for the platform year on year.
Net flows were £1bn, in comparison to £1.34bn for the quarter ended 30 June 2021.
Gross inflows for the quarter dropped a similar amount to £1.7bn (quarter ended 30 June 2021: £1.99bn).
The platform said the flows reflected a, “solid performance, considering the economic and market headwinds in 2022.”
Average daily funds under direction for the quarter were £51.9bn, lower than the previous two quarters due to the adverse impact of market movements.
Funds under direction at 30 June were very similar at £50.3bn (30 June 2021: £50.31bn).
The platform said the rate at which new clients and advisers were joining the platform, “remains consistently strong and provides a solid base for ongoing platform growth”.
So far during this financial year the platform has added 17,949 new clients and 546 new advisers.
Alex Scott, CEO of parent company IntegraFin, said the platform’s investment in IT and software development is on track.
He said: “We announced in our HY22 reporting that we would be increasing investment in IT and software development. We now provide guidance on the previously announced 50 IT and software development staff to be recruited in FY22 and FY23 mainly in relation to the Transact platform.
“This investment in IT and software development will deliver enhancements to our proprietary investment platform and back office software – with enhanced functionality for UK clients and their advisers.
“Furthermore, this investment will enable us to implement enhanced straight through processing of our operational activities, meaning that we improve our operational efficiencies and the cost effective scalability of our investment platform. This will reduce the additional operational staff required to service additional clients and advisers from FY25.”
With current recruitment levels, IntegraFin expects group staff costs to increase 16% this year, with a similar increase in 2023.
It expects to continue to recruit in these areas until 2027.
Mr Scott added that the firm has seen a ‘significant’ one-off business rate rebate for last year, which should offset most of the costs from the significant increase in energy and occupancy costs.
The firm also expects an increase of 24% for other costs driven by sales and marketing activity and IT equipment.
Mr Scott said he is confident about the future for the advised platform market.
He said: “The demand for financial advice is as strong as ever. There are significant opportunities for the IHP Group in the growing advised market in which we operate. Therefore, as we have done for over 20 years, we will continue to support UK clients and their financial advisers.”