Volatility impacts Insignia’s FUMA

Just how challenging US tariff-generated volatility has been for Australia’s financial services institutions has been confirmed by Insignia Financial’s third quarter business update which revealed funds under management (FUM) had decreased by 1.5% ($ billion) to $321.8 billion.

The update also revealed that total net outflows for the quarter $1.8 billion, driven by institutional outflows within low-margin Direct Asset Management capabilities due to client rebalancing.

Commenting on the update, Insignia chief executive, Scott Hartley said the decline in FUMA had been owed to challenging investment markets but noted that flows performance had remained solid across strategically important channels including Expand Wrap, Workplace, and retail Asset Management.

“Our Advised Wrap flows marked a fourth consecutive quarter of positive flows following the MLC Wrap migration, with $505 million in underlying net inflows into MLC Expand for the quarter,” he said.

“In Master Trust, the Workplace business continued its historically strong profile of net inflows. The Direct channel also attracted positive net inflows for the quarter.”

The company’s overview of funds under management revealed Wrap FUA was down $1.4 billion (1.4%) to $97.7 billion, Master Trust FUA was down $2.5 billion (1.9%) and Asset Management FUM was down $1.2 billion (1.2%) to $94.2 billion.

Hartley noted last week’s announcement that Insignia had agreed to requests from competing private equity bides Bain Capital and CC Capital to extend the exclusivity period in relation to their non-binding indicative proposals.

However, he said that while Insignia remained focused on ensuring the best outcome for shareholders from the process, it was continuing to deliver on its strategic prioritie.

“We continue to focus on delivering our remaining FY25 initiatives, including accelerated cost optimisation and the Master Trust transition to SS&C and continuing to execute on our business plan,” Hartley said.