DIY Investment Market Hits New Peak, Surpassing £470bn in AUA across 12 million customer accounts

London, May 2025 – The UK direct-to-consumer (D2C) investing market reached a new high of £471.7 billion in assets under administration (AUA) at the end of Q1 2025, according to Boring Money’s latest quarterly Market Monitor update. This represents 0.9% growth over the quarter and 12% growth year-on-year, despite volatile markets and shaky consumer confidence.

The number of customer accounts also surged to 12.05 million, marking a 4.6% increase from Q4 2024 and more than doubling over the past five years, when accounts stood at just under 6 million in Q1 2020.

Top 5 Market Leaders by AUA:

Despite a maturing market, concentration remains high. The five largest providers by AUA – Hargreaves Lansdown, ii, Fidelity, AJ Bell and Vanguard - now control 72.4% of the market.

A different picture emerges when ranking by number of accounts. Here, newer and digital-first platforms are gaining ground, and the market share of the top 5 by customers is just 34%.

Strong Growth Post-Pandemic:

Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, the D2C market has experienced rapid expansion. AUA has more than doubled from £228bn in Q1 2020 to £472bn in Q1 2025, while the number of accounts has more than doubled from 5.9 million to over 12 million in the same period.

A Changing Market:

While AUA growth was more muted in early 2025 due to market headwinds and geopolitical uncertainty, consumer appetite for digital investing remains robust. AJ Bell and Aviva each recorded over 7% account growth in customer accounts in Q1 alone. AJ Bell led with 7.5% growth, while Vanguard saw a 1.7% increase.

Boring Money CEO, Holly Mackay comments: “Despite the volatility around Liberation Day, retail investors were not deterred and many of the larger platform reported strong client growth in the first quarter. Amongst the challenger brands, Freetrade and Trading212 also report very strong growth in account numbers. We can see the growth in competition as the market share by customers of the top 5 brands continues to fall, opening up a new battleground for these investors as their assets and confidence grow. Whether they will stay where they started or migrate to either advice or fuller-service platforms is a key question.”