Insignia acknowledges challenging master trust outflows

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

23 January 2026

Continued master trust outflows in the advised and personal channels remain a challenge for Insignia Financial, according to chief executive, Scott Hartley.

In a quarterly update to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Hartley confirmed the master trust outflows challenge, at the same time as confirming that private equity player, CC Capital’s acquisition bid remains on track for a possible shareholder vote in the first half.

With respect to the master trust outflows, he said that a significant program of work is underway “to align and uplift adviser service experience, product proposition and enhance engagement with members”.

The company’s update to the ASX said net outflows for the quarter were $73 million driven by Institutional outflows of $1.6 billion from Direct Asset Management capabilities and $758 million of net outflows from Master Trust.

However, it noted that net inflows into the Wrap were $1.5 billion and multi-asset solutions achieved net inflows of $779 million within Asset Management.

Hartley painted a more positive picture of the broader outlook for Insignia noting the firm’s Funds Under Management and Administration in increased by 0.4% to $342 billion.

It said this was supported by positive market movements, encouraging net inflows into Wrap, and continued net inflows into Asset Management’s retail multi-asset and Managed Accounts offerings.

“The MLC Expand suite of products continued to see strong growth during the quarter with $1.7 billion in net inflows, partly offset by $0.2 billion of outflows from Platform Connect,” he said.

The Insignia update noted that the company is well advanced in the work required to bring the proposed acquisition by CC Capital to a shareholder vote.

“CC Capital, which is responsible for lodging various regulatory applications including with APRA and FIRB, has been encouraged by its regulatory engagement process to date and anticipates the required regulatory Conditions Precedent to be resolved in a timeframe to allow for Insignia Financial shareholders to vote on the Scheme in the first half of 2026,” it said.

“Work on the Scheme Booklet, including the Independent Expert’s Report, is well-advanced and will be shared with ASIC for review in due course.”