Platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell has reported total customer numbers rose 21% over the past year and 5% in the past quarter to 418,309, according to its Q2 trading update.

Advised customers totalled 137,201, up 16% in the last year and 4% in the quarter.

CEO Andy Bell said the launch this week of Dodl, the firm’s app-driven consumer investment platform, and a new simplified platform for the advised market called Touch, currently under development, should help continue the growth in customers.

Despite the positive news on customer numbers, net inflows in the quarter fell by £0.2bn to £1.6bn and total assets under administration fell by 2% to £74.1bn due to “adverse market and other movements of 4%,” the firm said. Transact reported a similar drop in AUM this week.

AJ Bell cited the 0.5% drop in the FTSE All-Share Index and the MSCI World Index falling by 5.5% as factors in the AUM decline.

The firm said the comparative quarter in 2021 was exceptionally strong as consumers invested excess cash savings built up during Covid lockdowns. This year market uncertainty, caused by factors such as inflation and the war in Ukraine, dampened consumers' investment appetite.

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The company, which launched its app-driven Dodl consumer investment platform yesterday, said customer growth and inflows in Q2 highlighted the “resilience of the AJ Bell business model across different market conditions.”

Over three-quarters of new accounts opened with the firm are pensions or ISAs and platform customer retention remained high at 95%.

Andy Bell, chief executive of AJ Bell, said: “Our dual-channel platform, serving the growing advised and D2C platform markets, attracted over 20,000 new customers and significant net inflows during Q2 despite weakened investor sentiment. 

“In the last year we have grown platform customer numbers by 21% and platform AUA by 15%, demonstrating the strength of our business model across different market conditions.

“Although our D2C customers invested slightly less via our platform than in the comparative period as they assess the impact of the rising cost of living, net inflows to our advised platform remained on par with last year, which was a strong comparative. Net platform inflows of £1.6 billion is an encouraging result given the uncertain market backdrop.”

“This week we launched a new investing app called Dodl by AJ Bell which expands our offering to DIY investors. The launch of Dodl in the consumer market will be complemented by the launch of Touch by AJ Bell, our simplified platform currently being developed for the advised market.”

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