There were record gross sales and outflows for advised platforms in 2025, with gross sales hitting £92.82bn, up from £79.97bn in 2024 and £63.47bn in 2023.
Outflows hit new highs in 2025 with £72.37bn withdrawn during the year, up from £65.73bn in 2024.
According to the Lang Cat’s latest annual State of the Platform Nation report, AUM surpassed £750bn by the end of the year, up from £65.73 in 2024, with asset movement of existing assets forming the bulk of the growth.
That was despite a volatile start to the year with trade wars impacting growth in Q1, the report said.
Outflows spiked in the second half of the year as Budget rumours caused widespread anxiousness, which advisers said most often centred around tax-free cash being taken away.
Among advised platforms, 2025 was a story of the strong getting stronger, with the top five – Quilter, Transact, Aviva, Nucleus and AJ Bell Investcentre - increasing market share, according to the report.
It said Quilter set a new industry high of £16.44bn for gross sales. Transact and Aviva were second and third and recorded £10.55bn and £10.28bn respectively. The three platforms accounted for 89% of advised net sales and 62% of positive net sales.
The D2C market also had a strong year with platforms including Interactive Investor, AJ Bell and Moneybox posting net sales comparable to three top advised platforms, with only Quilter recording more in the advised space.
Regulation continued to shape investor behaviour, with changes to CGT allowances and forthcoming changes to IHT leading to a surge in sales of platform investment bonds, with onshore sales up 67.9% and offshore up 27% - their best years ever.
Sales in annuities were up significantly in volume and value since Q3 2023, and remained at consistent levels in 2025 with the average value rising.
Rich Mayor, senior analyst at the Lang Cat, said: “2025 was an eventful and record-breaking year for platforms in terms of sales, growth and outflows, with rumour and speculation around the budget playing a big role in the latter.”
He said changes to CGT allowances in April and IHT implications means advisers have been reigniting interest in products like on and offshore bonds. “We don’t see this changing soon so platforms who offer, service and integrate these products are likely to fare better than those who don’t.”
He said the rise in DIY investing during the pandemic does not appear to have slowed as the D2C market has enjoyed huge growth. Interactive Investor has half a million clients now, AJ Bell is just short of that, and Moneybox added nearly 400,000 clients in 2025 taking their total to 1.5m.
Mr Mayor warned: “This can have huge implications for the advised sector, especially as we move into a targeted support world.”