Insurance, pensions and investment firm Royal London has reported a decline in inflows over the nine months to September 2012 in both its asset management division and its wrap platform, though overall assets under management rose strongly in both units as returns remained strong.
Royal London Asset Management saw its net new business inflows plummet 28 per cent in this period to £156.8m, although its total funds under management increased 17 per cent to £46.6bn. Wrap platform Ascentric saw its new assets under administration drop 18 per cent to £856.7m, whereas its total assets under administration increased 42 per cent to £4.7bn.
The group announced that total new life and pensions business stayed relatively stable in the nine months to the end of September, at £2.6bn compared to the equivalent period in 2011.
In its new business results for this period, the mutual life and pensions company saw total group funds under management increase by 10 per cent to £48.7bn.
Phil Loney, group chief executive of the Royal London Group, said that all the businesses are “performing well”.
He said: “Scottish Life has increased its share of both the individual and group pensions markets. Our excellent product and service propositions mean we are well placed to benefit from the Retail Distribution Review and from automatic enrolment, which will have a huge impact on the group pensions market over the next few years.
“Rlam, as we expected, has reported strong net inflows over the last quarter. This is particularly pleasing given some outflows experienced earlier this year which, with changing market characteristics and investor appetites, is the nature of fund management.”
Mr Loney emphasised that the protection businesses in the UK and Ireland have also experienced strong growth.
He added: “Our offerings are competitively priced and are well placed to make the most of the opportunities that the upcoming Gender Directive brings to advisers and their clients.”
