Investors fearing heightened volatility in financial markets were the main driver of inflows for investment firm Architas in the first six months of 2018.
Architas, which is a subsidiary of Axa, had assets under management of £24bn in its UK operation as of 30 June 2018. This included net inflows of £152m during the period.
The company said the biggest contributor to asset growth in the first half of the year were funds it runs in the IA Volatility Managed sector and the multi-asset funds.
Volatility managed funds aim to deliver returns while exposing the underlying investor to less volatility than is present in the market as a whole at that time.
Hans Georgeson, chief executive of Architas, said: "Architas is now in its tenth year and during that time we have seen significant changes in the market. This includes the growth of multi-asset and multi-manager solutions and demand from advisers for funds that balance risk with potential reward.
"We have chosen now to overhaul our charges in the UK by extending our super clean share class pricing across all platforms to provide better value and more consistent pricing for all clients invested in Architas via third party platforms.
"We have been pleased with the positive response this announcement has received so far from advisers."
Last month Architas made its super clean share classes available to all UK investment platforms, which meant a reduction in the annual management charge of 20 basis points on the active and blended ranges, five basis points on the Passive fund range and between 10 and 20 basis points on the single strategy fund ranges.
Guy Stephens, technical investment director at wealth manager Rowan Dartington, noted that while volatility rose sharply at the start of 2018, it has since fallen.
david.thorpe@ft.com
