AJ Bell’s assets expand 20% to almost £84bn as it attracts more clients

AJ Bell has hailed “strong momentum” so far in 2024 after the group reported record assets and growing client numbers.

The DIY investment firm revealed that assets under management in its platform business amounted to £83.7 billion in the three months to June.

This represented an increase of 4 percent from the previous quarter and 20 percent more than the same period last year.

Its customer base grew by 25,000 to 528,000 during the second quarter, with the overwhelming majority of new customers in its direct-to-consumer (D2C) space.

The FTSE 250 group, which sponsors the Great North Run, said the growth partly reflected the migration of around 7,000 people from a third-party platform.

However, its chief executive, Michael Summersgill, also credited recent price cuts with helping organic D2C customer volumes expand to more than double their levels from last year.

He said clients were engaging in increased trading activity, especially in overseas markets, thanks to the excellent performance of the stock markets.

The FTSE 100, S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices all hit record highs during 2024 as falling inflation, expectations of lower interest rates and an improving economic outlook made stocks more attractive to investors.

Summersgill said: ‘The third quarter of our financial year saw a continuation of the strong momentum reported in our previous update.

‘Our strategy of serving both the advisory and D2C markets helped us attract a significant number of new clients and assets from both sub-sectors of the growing platform market.’

AJ Bell’s trading update comes three days after Summersgill joined other major retail investment firms in calling on the new government to overhaul the savings market to help boost the flow of money into domestic stocks.

The Manchester-based group has recommended significantly reducing the number of types of Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs).

Summersgill also wants to scrap stamp duty on UK shares and create a single ISA wrapper for cash and investments.

He said the “radical simplification of the ISA”, combined with other reforms, would create “the foundations for an investment revolution, benefiting individuals and the wider economy”.

Among the reasons why London’s reputation as a financial centre has suffered in recent years are high interest rates, a lack of big tech companies and increased competition from cities such as Dubai and New York.

Data released last week by the Investment Association showed a record £1.8bn was withdrawn from UK equities in May, while European and North American funds saw strong inflows.

AJ Bell shares rose 4.5 percent to 415 pence on Thursday morning, taking their gains to around 41 percent since the start of the year.

=