Royal London AM assets jump £7bn but Ascentric under RDR pressure

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has seen assets under management (AuM) rise by around £7 billion in the first nine months of year.

AuM rose 17% to £46.6 billion in the nine months to the end of September. The net inflow stood at £156.8 million thanks to a number of new pension mandates, although this figure was 28% lower on the previous year due to changes in investor sentiment over the course of the year.

The firm, which has five Citywire-rated managers, is hoping for positive inflows in the final three months of the year following the launch its European Corporate Bond and Duration Credit Hedged funds in the third quarter.

Phil Loney (pictured), group chief executive of Royal London Group, said in a statement to the stockmarket: ‘As we expected, RLAM 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.’

Meanwhile total assets under administration in the firm’s Ascentric wrap platform rose 42% to £4.7 billion. However, net new business declined by 18% due to regulatory and market pressures.

‘General economic conditions combined with the pressures of RDR have served to dampen growth in the platform market,’ Royal London said.

Overall across the wider group, including the life and pensions business, assets under management were up 10% year-on-year.