AJ Bell PLC (LSE:AJB) said customer numbers rose above 500,000 in its latest quarter in an upbeat trading statement from the wealth platform.
Some 19,000 new accounts were opened in the three months to 31 March, up 4% in the quarter and 11% over the past twelve months, taking the total to 503,000.
Assets under management rose by 5% to £80.3 billion, up 17% year-on-year and by 5% on a quarterly basis helped, it said, by favourable market movements.
Net fund inflows of £1.6 billion were ahead of estimates with £1.4 billion gross added in March ahead of the close of ISA season.
Along with other wealth platform operators, AJ Bell has come under regulatory scrutiny recently under financial customer duty of care rules especially how much they pay in interest on idle funds.
Michael Summersgill, chief executive, said Bell remained "committed to providing low-cost, easy-to-use products".
“On 1 April we reduced our custody fees for advised customers and halved our headline dealing fee for D2C customers to £5," he said.
"We also increased the interest rates payable on cash balances held across all our products, further strengthening our overall customer value proposition,”
How much impact this will have on its profitability was not indicated.