Ascentric, the platform owned by Royal London, saw the amount of cash traded by its in-house dealing team more than triple in the week after the Brexit vote.
In an update released today (18 July), Ascentric revealed its total dealing cash value increased to over £25m between 20 June and 1 July, from £7m.
Over this period, the platform’s in-house dealing capability – which lets advisers trade quickly – helped advisers boost client returns by £106,000 after its team took advantage of the bumpy markets.
Jon Taylor, managing director of the platform, said advisers need to have the flexibility and control over trading, particularly during periods of extreme market volatility.
The increasing popularity of exchange-traded funds and investment trusts saw week-on-week dealing values on the Ascentric platform soar, with ETF volumes increasing by as much as 415 per cent.
Volumes of equity investments jumped 152 per cent, and investment trusts increased by 56 per cent.
Dealing volumes on Ascentric between 20 June and 1 July
Asset Type | Cash value of orders w/c 20 June | Cash value of orders w/c 27 June | | % change in cash value orders |
ETFs | £3,702,206.16 | £19,085,536.71 | | 415.52 |
Investment Trust | £2,139,186.15 | £3,345,776.09 | | 56.40 |
Equity | £1,192,975.53 | £3,004,706.31 | | 151.87 |
Total | £7,034,367.84 | £25,436,019.11 | | 261.60 |
In May, the platform announced it was partnering with Brown Shipley to give advisers access to its discretionary managed portfolio service.
Ascentric’s in-house dealing team aim to get the best price for clients.
Rather than using one counterparty, the team leverage relationships with 20 counterparties and are not restricted to a fixed time for trading each day.
Mark Waters, investment manager at Skerritts Wealth Management, said in-house dealing has made a big improvement to his client returns.
He said he incorporates dealing functionality as part of his company’s due diligence process, adding it shouldn’t be a box-ticking exercise.
katherine.denham@ft.com
