AJ Bell PLC (LSE:AJB) has seen an uptick in dealing activity by retail investors, but the investment platform added that most of this has been in overseas markets rather than the UK.
International dealing activity was "particularly strong" said Michael Summersgill, the wealth platform's chief executive, adding recent stock market performance has boosted confidence among retail or D2C customers.
In the three months to the end of June 2024, AJ Bell added that total platform customers increased by 25,000 to 528,000, net inflows were 55% up at £1.7 billion with assets under administration at a record of £83.7 billion or 20% higher than a year ago.
Swiss bank UBS had forecast customer numbers to rise to 534,000, AUA of £89.5 billion and £ 1.3 billion of inflows.
Summersgill said recent price reductions following FCA concerns had helped fuel customer growth.
“The organic increase in D2C [retail] customers in the third quarter was more than double the level achieved in the prior year,” he said.