Royal London-owned wrap platform Ascentric has reached the £11bn mark in assets under administration, helped by the recovery of the markets following the Brexit vote.
According to Ascentric, the platform has seen an increase in the number of new account applications from existing and new advisers, helped by the post-Brexit vote recovery of stock markets.
The company exceeded £11bn in assets after seeing strong gross inflows of more than £1.2bn for the year ending July.
Jon Taylor, managing director of Ascentric, said reaching the milestone reflects the platform’s ongoing efforts to enhance its proposition.
Those platforms set to thrive in this environment need to continually adapt Jon Taylor“With an increasing focus on holistic financial planning, advisers are naturally looking at specialist platforms that have the flexibility to allow them to deal with their client’s needs, regardless of how complex they may be.
“Markets are moving at a fast pace and those platforms set to thrive in this environment need to continually adapt to ensure they offer advisers the support and tools they need.”
Mr Taylor said the platform will soon develop a tool which looks to help advisers more accurately forecast and visualise the income from a client’s portfolio.
Recent initiatives undertaken by Ascentric to enhance its proposition include giving advisers exclusive access to the Brown Shipley Aim Isa, helping clients manage their tax and estate planning.
It also has a renewed focus on its in-house dealing capability helping advisers to trade quickly and achieve the best price for clients.
Dan Elkington, independent financial advisor at Chattertons Solicitors, said three things are happening in the UK: companies can get debt for free on the open market, creditworthy bond yields are through the floor, and income based pricing has increased in relative value.
“This means everyone has traipsed the risk spectrum in the hunt for yield, and more people are investing in UK domestic companies in an attempt to get yield.
“The money for this appears to be coming from cash,” he said, adding Ascentric’s growth has probably been boosted by the falling value of sterling and the revaluation of their assets.
“Ascentric is a good platform, not one that we routinely use at the moment normally because of concerns around profitability and financial strength.”
katherine.denham@ft.com
