Finscape, the home of UK investment distribution intelligence, published its Q1 2026 update today. Assets tracked on the platform have crossed the £1trn mark for the first time, propelled by a slew of new client onboardings, asset additions from existing clients, and a buoyant tax-year-end that delivered the strongest month for gross investment flows in Finscape’s history.
New clients also supply historical data so the previous quarter’s data has also been refreshed. March’s asset total of £1,029bn represented a modest dip against December 2025’s £1,047bn, but that movement is squarely down to stock-market volatility rather than any underlying outflow trend. More client data continues to be onboarded and the pipeline remains healthy, meaning these figures are, if anything, conservative.
Gross investment flows hit a record-breaking £37bn, up from £33.6bn in February and driven by the tax-year-end. Net flows for March came in at £1.5bn, sharply up from the previous month’s £492m. Looking at the quarter as a whole, gross flows reached £99.6bn, up 12% year-on-year from £88.8bn in Q1 2025. Net flows, however, told a more nuanced story: Q1 2026 saw net outflows of £325m, compared with positive net flows of £1,910m in the same period last year. The driver? Geopolitically-driven market volatility and the uncertainty it generates among investors – a theme that defined much of the first quarter.
With the tax-year-end approaching and successive Autumn Budget changes front of mind, investors maxed out their allowances. SIPPs and pensions led the way with around £30bn in gross flows, while Stocks & Shares ISAs attracted £14.3bn — no surprise given the tax-year-end timing — followed by General Investment Accounts at £8.6bn, onshore bonds at £1.9bn, and offshore bonds at £1.2bn.
Advisers in the driving seat
The adviser channel continues to dominate the UK investment distribution landscape. As a whole, advisers accounted for 79% of gross flows and 75% of net flows for the quarter. Discretionary Fund Managers (DFMs), meanwhile, accounted for 9.6% of gross flows and 13.6% of net flows, underlining their growing influence on intermediated business.
What they bought
Other key trends this quarter include:
- On the MPS front, non-MPS flows dominated at £75bn versus £24.6bn for MPS propositions.
- Single-strategy funds drew £81bn, compared with £17.7bn into multi-manager solutions.
- The index revolution continues apace. Index funds attracted £39.8bn in gross flows against £11.4bn for active — a ratio of roughly 3.5:1 in favour of index strategies.
- Global (£5.5bn) and North America (£4.3bn) were the leading sectors. Multi-asset funds were also popular, with Mixed 40–85% funds attracting £3.3bn and Volatility Managed strategies taking £3.0bn – both consistent with a risk-aware environment.
With more client data still flowing in and a healthy pipeline behind it, expect the trillion-pound figure to look conservative before long. The bigger question for Q2 is whether net flows can find their feet against a still-jittery geopolitical backdrop.
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