Edinburgh-based Standard Life Investments (SLI), which now actively manages £250bn ($390.4bn, €355.4bn) of assets across the globe, said net inflows from Europe were £2.2bn, up from £600m in same period of 2014.
“We are continuing to see the benefits of our expanding distribution capabilities,” said David Nish, the outgoing chief executive of Standard Life..
“We will continue to expand our geographic reach by building on success in overseas markets through strengthening our own distribution as well as relationships with global distribution partners in the US, Canada, India, Japan and across the Standard Life Group,” he said.
Total UK workplace and retail net new inflows of £2.9bn were up 23%
The UK and Europe segment provides a broad range of long-term savings and investment products and services to workplace and retail customers in the UK, Germany, Austria and Ireland.
In North America net inflows rose by £1.5bn, up from £1.1bn in the first half of last year.
In the Asia Pacific region, SLI generated net inflows of £800m, up from £100m in the first half of 2014.
Formerly the Asia and Emerging Markets segment, this region now consists of the life insurance joint venture businesses in India and China plus the firm’s wholly-owned business in Hong Kong. These businesses offer insurance and savings products to customers and had assets under administration of £2.6bn, up 4% from the end of 2014.
Standard Life said its Singapore office, which was closed in June 2015, made an operating loss before tax of £2m in the first half compared with a 2014 first half loss of £3m, and had made a £38m non-operating loss relating to the closure costs.
While in Hong Kong, the company said it expected the underlying performance of its operations to be lower in the second half of the year due to the impact of new regulations.
The Dubai business, which closed at the start of 2015, had no operating result.
Operating profit up
At the group level, operating profit before tax from continuing operations increased by 6% to £290m in the six months to June 30 as total assets under administration rose £302bn.
The company said that while net flows continued to grow overall, they had fallen in each of the last three six-month periods, from $6.4bn in 2013, to £4.3bn in 2014 and £3.4bn for the most recent first half.
“Following changes announced in the Budget in March 2014 and in line with guidance given at our full year results 2014 in February, we expect the full year contribution from annuity new business to reduce by between £10m-£15m and the contribution from asset liability management to reduce by between £30m-£40m compared to full year 2014,” it said in the results statement.
