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.
Download the full press release here.
Fundscape's analysis of platform performance in the first quarter of 2019 should make for encouraging reading for AJ Bell, Aviva and Transact, but some of the chasing pack appears stagnant....
2018 was a tough year for the adviser platform sector as a whole but, amid the general suffering, are net-flow figures suggesting a shift in the balance of power among the most popular players?...
It’s been a tough year for fund groups and platforms alike with Brexit and other worries cooling the markets. Initially, platforms were cushioned from the worst by ongoing DB transfer business, but by the second half of the year that business was also drying up. Year-on-year asset growth was a meagre 4%, while gross and net sales have plummeted. The economics are relatively unchanged, but investors have been spooked by Brexit and US-China trade wars.
For full press release click here.
Aviva's net platform flows were revealed to be 38% down year-on-year in the group's annual results this morning. Yet, after a slow 2018 in the platform market, are the group's troubles as bad as...
In July the UK government finally agreed an exit strategy with the EU and the outlook began to look rosier. But as the quarter wore on, resignations and vocal criticism abounded dampening investor sentiment and sending stock markets into the red — the FTSE 100 and the FTSE All Share indices fell by 1.8% in the quarter. Download the release here.