RDR-ready services drive 65% increase in profit at Standard Life

Effective adoption to a fee-based world has helped drive operating profit at Standard Life up 65% over the last year at £900 million, powered by its SLI and Standard Life Wealth divisions.

AT the market open shares in the company were up 1.14% at 379p.

Assets under administration rose 10% to £218 billion while third-party investment fund assets grew 60% to £83 billion on positive markets and demand for ‘newer style fee based propositions’. Fee based revenue increased from £1.20 billion £1,27 billion.

‘We have been building strong positions in our core markets,’ said chief executive David Nish (pictured). ‘In the UK we are ready to benefit from the significant changes to the market and the increased customer need for savings products.’

'Standard Life has undergone considerable change over the past three years. As a result we now have significant opportunities for further strong and sustainable growth.'

Before the recently-announced SLW acquisition of Newton’s private client business, the division had already doubled assets under management in ‘higher margin propositions’ to £1.8 billion.

Its MyFolio risk-rated fund range also more than doubled assets, growing from £900 million to £2.2 billion.  

The company increased its final dividend 6.5% to 9.8p, with the total for the year up from 13.8p to 14.7p.