The year ended on a high for Finscape. FE fundinfo acquired Finscape, the Autumn Budget was not as bad as expected, we signed four large asset managers in December, and assets hit £918bn by the close of the year. Not bad going, right? And that number will break through the trillion-pound mark in a matter of months.
Investment distribution is fragmented and complex, with multiple routes and intermediaries sitting between investors and asset managers, making it far harder than it should be to see where flows are really coming from. Finscape cuts through the noise by bringing everything together into a single, market-wide view.
Investment flows in December were a very healthy £26bn gross and £5bn net (retail platform flows were £6.6bn gross and £1.8bn net), bringing the annual figures to £335bn gross and £16bn net. The corresponding retail platform numbers were £202bn gross and £19.3bn net, meaning platforms accounted for around 120% of the industry’s net flows. Financial advice accounts for a sizeable 55% of gross flows over the last three years.
Advice and the use of MPS
Adviser gross flows have been consistently robust over the past three years, typically landing in the £10–15bn per month range. There’s clear seasonality, but no sign of fading momentum. The MPS component has grown steadily and now represents a much larger share of adviser activity than it did in 2023. Even when overall adviser flows soften, MPS tends to hold up well, reinforcing its role as the engine room of adviser-led investment.
Net flows are inevitably more volatile, but the direction of travel is clear. From mid-2024 onwards, the trend turns decisively positive, with MPS accounting for the bulk of positive net flows, particularly in stronger months. More often than not, it’s MPS that makes the difference between flat and meaningfully positive outcomes. By 2025, adviser net flows are not just positive, but increasingly MPS-driven, underlining the structural shift towards outsourced, model-based investing.
So what? This isn’t a cyclical story – it’s a structural one. Advisers remain one of the most important distribution channels in the UK, and MPS has become the default way investment is delivered in that channel. Any asset manager, platform or DFM not properly plugged into adviser and MPS flows is simply missing where the money is really going.
To find out how we can help with your distribution needs, get in touch.
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Picture by Alfonso Betancourt on Unsplash.