Standard Life’s UK operating profit before tax increased last year by 6 per cent to £350m, with overall retail and corporate fee-based business assets under administration of over £100bn.
The group’s full year results showed a 3 per cent increase in UK fee-based revenue, driven by a 4 per cent rise in retail new net inflows to £2.9bn, with gross inflows up 7 per cent to £5.9bn.
The drawdown proposition now has assets under administration of over £11bn, while assets in the MyFolio were up by half to £5.9bn.
In terms of the wrap platform, assets were up 26 per cent to £20.9bn, with the service now used by 1,340 adviser firms, with nearly 20 per cent holding assets of greater than £20m.
Paul Matthews, the insurer’s chief executive for UK and Europe, also mentioned that auto-enrolment has brought in 1,334 new schemes on the corporate side, upping net inflows by 10 per cent to £2.2bn.
“We’re addressing the rising demand for advice created by pension reforms through our ongoing support to help advisers grow their businesses, along with the launch this month of our wholly-owned, UK-wide financial advice business.
“Our focus continues to be on delivering good outcomes and value for our customers through innovative use of technology, our market-leading propositions and the group’s investment expertise.”
Standard Life’s managing director Barry O’Dwyer told FTAdviser that the company has no set targets for acquisitions to drive the financial advice arm and that there will be both organic and inorganic growth.
“The reality is though, that we want to build a nationwide service, so we will have to develop this quite fast and will be looking to make further strategic acquisitions this year.”
It was not all plain sailing though, as the group predicted a £10-15m hit on its annuity business this year, as a result of the April pension freedoms. Last year’s the margin for new annuity business was 66 per cent lower than in 2013.
The company has today also issued information to shareholders regarding the proposed return of value of approximately £1.75bn following the sale of its Canadian companies.
peter.walker@ft.com
