Ascentric boosts new assets by 189%

Royal London's wrap platform Ascentric increased new assets under management by 189% to £1,217m in 2010 from £421m the previous year.

Funds under administration on the platform are now over £2.5bn, representing a 119% increase on 2009. The company was also successful in attracting new advisers to the platform, with 266 firms signed up during the year contributing to a near doubling of customers to 23,241.

Agreements were also reached with several major advisory firms for white label platforms, providing access to further substantial market distribution.

Royal London's life and pensions arms also showed strong growth over the period. with Scottish Life new business rising 37% from £1,578m to £2,159m in 2010. New business at international arm 360° also grew from £237m to £329m.

Emma Jones, investment development manager at Scottish Life, says the strong new business figures are largely due to the interest the provider has seen from IFAs in its governed range.

Meanwhile, Royal London Asset Management's new business grew 92% to £1,133m from £589m last year.

However, its protection arm Bright Grey/Scottish Provident saw a 10% decline in new business to £332m compared to 2009, as the stagnant state of the mortgage market continued to take its toll.

"Both our pensions and international operations have achieved record new business levels and RLAM, our asset management company, is attracting new funds across all asset classes," says Mike Yardley, group chief executive at Royal London.

"To announce a strong increase in new business when the economic backdrop has been so poor is a very satisfactory performance."