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It was a difficult first quarter for platforms with the expectation of a recession and the cost-of-living crisis dragging on sentiment and flows. Two Interest rate hikes didn’t help either. Higher interest rates are usually bad for stock markets, but markets appeared to be Teflon-coated in Q1 with the FTSE 100 up 2%, the FTSE All World and S&P 500 up 7%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up a whopping 17%. This boosted platform assets to £880bn, although the industry’s £930bn high is still some way off.

The going got exceptionally tough for the platform industry in the third quarter. The cost-of-living crisis, rampant inflation, the uncertain economic outlook and political instability together had a huge, negative impact on investor confidence. Investors were spooked, abandoned risk in their droves and retreated to the safety of cash.

We’re unable to publish individual platform data until the last publicly listed platform has reported its results on 9th March 2022. As a result, here is the first of two press releases for Q421/2021 platform data1. This press release reviews the significant growth in assets and flows at a market level in 2021.

After a year unlike any other in recent history, the fourth quarter was home to an unexpected and welcome upturn in fortunes and the first shoots of optimism for 2021 for the platform industry. Stock markets surged in November with the FTSE All Share index rising by 12.4% in the month, on the back of Covid19 vaccine approvals and Joe Biden winning the US presidential elections. This resulted in industry assets expanding by 7.6% in the fourth quarter to £785bn. To provide some context, annual growth was just £65bn, or 9%.

A high viral load sent stock markets around the world into shock in March. As a result, there was a collective contraction in platform assets of £78bn to £633bn, an 11% drop, although this was considerably better than the ~ 25% fall suffered by stock markets worldwide.

This is the second press release on the platform industry in 2019. The February press release covered platform industry highlights for 2019. this press release is about individual platform performance.

Stock markets yoyoed and closed the third quarterly in roughly the same place as they started thanks to geopolitical concerns at home and abroad. In the UK, the third quarter kicked off with the appointment of hardline Brexiteer, Boris Johnson, as party leader and Prime Minister.