13 Feb Platform Industry Highlights 2017

The PLATFORM INDUSTRY is in extended lockdown phase because several platforms will not report their full-year results to the stock market until mid-March, a full month after the usual scheduled publication date of the Fundscape Platform Report. As a result, Fundscape is releasing headline figures and industry highlights for 2017.  The full report will be released in March once all PLC-owned platforms have published their results.

Read full press release here.

The PLATFORM INDUSTRY is in extended lockdown phase because several platforms will not report their full-year results to the stock market until mid-March, a full month after the usual scheduled publication date. As a result, Fundscape is releasing headline figures and industry highlights for 2017.  The full report will be released in March once all PLC-owned platforms have published their results.

Despite Brexit and geopolitical uncertainty, it was a record-breaking year for the platform industry with pension freedoms and DB transfers fuelling growth. Gross and net sales hit new highs and assets rose to just under £600bn.

• Assets rose by £103bn for the full year, a rocket-fuelled 21% thanks to pension freedoms and asset consolidation. In contrast, the FTSE 100 and the FTSE All-Share indices rose by 7.6% and 9% respectively.
• With Q4 gross sales just shy of £33bn, it was the second best quarter on record. Annual sales were also a record-breaking £126bn, up 34% against 2016’s gross sales of £93.7bn.
• Net sales were a buoyant £14.2bn and second only to the ISA-fuelled sales of the second quarter.
• Annual net sales were also a robust £55.9bn, up an impressive 46% on 2016.

• Pension & Sipp wrappers account for 33% of platform assets, but attracted 63% of industry net flows for the year.
• Total assets in pensions rose to £194bn. Of this amount, Fundscape estimate that two thirds of assets* are in accumulation products and one third in decumulation.

*Based on pension figures provided by six platforms.

– Ends-

Notes to Editors:

The Platform Report is a confidential report published by Fundscape LLP.  To subscribe to the report, platforms must contribute asset and sales data on a quarterly basis. For further information, please visit www.fundscape.co.uk.

A total of 19 platforms are included in the analysis. Platform coverage is estimated at 98% of the platform universe.

For further information or background please contact: Bella Caridade-Ferreira, tel +44 (0)20 7720 1183, bella@fundscape.co.uk 

Photo (CN Tower, Toronto) by Scott Webb on Unsplash