Insignia Wrap flows hold strong amid $1.8bn quarterly outflows

While underlying net inflows into MLC Expand hit $505 million in the third quarter, Wrap funds under management contracted 1.4 per cent to $97.7 billion driven by negative market movement of $1.2 billion and pension payments of $608 million, Insignia said in an ASX listing on Wednesday.

Overall Insignia suffered net outflows of $1.8 billion for the quarter.

The firm noted that last quarter, $3.0 billion flowed into its cash strategies from an institutional client consolidating managers. However, this quarter, a large portion was redeemed due to the client’s rebalancing and asset allocation needs, contributing to $1.8 billion in net outflows from Institutional Direct Capabilities.

Insignia’s funds under management and administration (FUMA) decreased by $5.0 billion to $321.8 billion as at 31 March.

“We continued to make progress on our strategic initiatives during the quarter, and have delivered another quarter of promising net flows in strategically important channels,” said CEO Scott Hartley.

“FUMA declined to $321.8 billion during a quarter of challenging investment markets, but pleasingly flows performance remained solid across several strategically important channels including Expand Wrap, Workplace, and retail Asset Management”.

Insignia’s Master Trust continued its “historically strong profile of net inflows”, Hartley said.

Master Trust FUA as at 31 March was $129.8 billion, down $2.5 billion during the quarter, driven by negative market movement of $1.5 billion, net outflows of $628 million and pension payments of $311 million.

Workplace continued to attract positive flows, with net inflows of $133 million during the quarter. The direct channel also attracted positive net inflows of $60 million for the quarter.

Insignia said net outflows in the advised channel continued to moderate, with net outflows of $348 million materially lower than other quarters in FY25.

In Asset Management, FUM decreased by $1.2 billion to $94.2 billion, driven by $1.5 billion in net outflows, partially offset by positive market movement of $346 million.

In Multi-Asset, net inflows of $325 million were primarily driven by continued adviser take up of MLC’s managed accounts offering with $177 million in net inflows for the quarter.

Touching on the progress of agreements struck with potential buyers Bain Capital and CC Capital, Hartley said: “We remain focused on ensuring the best outcome for shareholders from this process, while also continuing to deliver our strategic priorities to build the foundation for resilient and sustainable growth”.

“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.”