IntegraFin, owner of adviser platform Transact, has reported advised client numbers climbed to a record 228,000 in the three month to the end of March.

The group published the figures in a quarterly update today.

It showed that during the three months to the end of March around 5,500 new clients were added to the Transact platform and around 200 new advisers were registered, increasing the total number of registered advisers to 7,800.

The group posted a 6% rise in funds under direction during the period, with net inflows to the Transact platform of £0.9bn and gross inflows of £1.8bn, although that was down from £2bn in the same period in 2022.

The average daily funds under direction (FUD) for the quarter was £53.8bn, up from £52.5bn in 2022.

Alex Scott, group chief executive, said: “During this period of ongoing economic and market volatility, clients rely more than ever on their advisers.

“The recent UK Budget also announced specific measures that will enable more saving into UK pensions.

“We therefore see the demand for high quality advice only continuing to grow, and we will continue to support UK advisers and capitalise on this market opportunity.” 

The group expects revenue for the first half of the financial year 2023 to be slightly lower than the same period last year, dropping to £66m from £67m.

Mr Scott added: “We continue to implement our platform digitalisation programme to deliver comprehensive online functionality for advisers and clients, as well as straight through processing for core internal administration activities.

“This means that our customer services staff will be able to spend more of their time on the most important value adding activities for advisers and clients.

“Overall, we remain focused on our aim to be the number one provider of software and services for clients and UK financial advisers.”