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With a disappointing ISA season having set the tone for the rest of 2023, the third quarter was always going to be a struggle. But thanks to modest upturns in stock markets, assets crept back over the £300bn mark, regaining a significant milestone for the direct platform market. Flows, however, disappointed with gross flows slumping to below £9bn and net flows dropping to a dismal £1.8bn — not their lowest ever, which was £1.5bn in the last quarter of 2022, but not far off it either.

After a difficult 2022, the D2C industry had been counting on business picking up in Q1 2023. For many D2C platforms, the ISA season is when they generate most of their flows so a buoyant Q1 is critical for annual revenues. However, a perfect storm of negative factors — rapidly rising interest rates, stubbornly high inflation, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, a wave of public sector strikes and geopolitical uncertainty —had a major impact on investor sentiment. Despite this, assets rose by 4% on the back of strong stock markets and gross sales rebounded to £11.3bn – well up on Q422, and marginally ahead of Q122 figures.