Quilter: Asset manager bucks industry trends with positive net flows
Quilter has bucked the trend of sustained outflows experienced by other asset managers in recent months, gaining £56m in inflows in the last quarter of 2023.
In a trading statement today, the firm reported that its assets under management and administration increased five per cent between September and the end of the year, to £106.7bn.
While the firm has seen a significant decline in inflows from the last quarter of 2022, which totalled £159m, the positive total stands in contrast to the likes of Liontrust and Rathbones, who last week reported losing hundreds of millions to investor withdrawal.
In today’s results, Quilter reported that its core business also saw a reduction in inflows, from £242m in the last quarter of 2022 to £175m. However, this was up from the just £1m achieved between June and August in 2023.
The firm’s affluent arm performed particularly well, with gross inflows sitting 8 per cent above the average level of the first three quarters of 2023, having increased 12 per cent throughout the entire year.
It added that persistence levels “remained broadly stable”, with 88 per cent of customers in its affluent arm staying on, and 90 per cent in its high net worth arm.
Steven Levin, Quilter’s CEO, said: “In what has been a tough year across the industry, we finished 2023 on a positive note with improved fourth quarter performance relative to the third.
“Our actions to enhance the proposition of our platform continue to bear fruit. We saw 44 per cent year-on-year growth in fourth quarter gross new business from IFAs onto our platform in our affluent segment, resulting in us moving back into a position of net inflows in this channel during the final quarter.
“Across the industry, 2023 saw a lot of focus on strategic positioning of businesses within a consumer duty context; we remain confident that our open and unbundled business model leaves us well positioned for the current environment.
“We look forward to updating the market on the progress we are making on our strategic goals of building distribution, enhancing propositions, and improving efficiency at our full year results on 6 March 2024.”