Assets under management across advised platforms grew by 9.24% quarter-on-quarter in Q2, which is the highest quarterly growth since Q2 2020, the lang cat has revealed.

The specialist financial services consultancy said this growth reflects the positive market movement in the second quarter, after the conflict in the Middle East resulted in no growth in Q1.

The lang cat reported that new business flows were down 2.72% to £25.88bn, following a record-breaking first quarter. However, the data represents the second-best quarter for gross sales on record, supported by stronger ISA sales.

Outflows across the advised platform market remained flat on the previous quarter at £18.53bn, following a sharp reduction in Q1 as a result of Budget-related withdrawals in Q4 2025.

The consultancy said that while net sales are down 8.95% on the back of a drop in gross sales and flat outflows, they are still "comfortably above" the numbers seen since the Ukraine invasion in 2022 and the subsequent rise in inflation, interest rates and future geopolitical volatility.

Senior analyst at the lang cat, Rich Mayor, said 2026’s numbers reflect the first half of 2025.

He concluded: "We had no growth in the first quarter due to turmoil around the introduction of Tariffs in the US, good growth in the second as markets settled, and a reduction in outflows from the preceding Budget.

"Under the bonnet, the advised sector continues to have strong new business numbers, with this quarter the second-best on our books. This quarter in particular we’re seeing really good ISA sales and it feels logical that there’s some reinvestment from the spike in Budget pension withdrawals washing through as new tax year subscriptions become available.

"From a net sales perspective, we’re continuing to see pensions command the lion’s share of flows, but the rest is a pretty even split between ISAs, GIAs and Bonds. That’s a more recent trend and a new shape of net sales for platforms that operate nearly entirely in the advised market in terms of AUM, as planning for IHT on unspent pensions sharpens on the horizon. This means some fundamental changes to retirement planning for more clients and we’re seeing that play out meaningfully in platform flows now."

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