Aberdeen Standard Investments Sees Wholesale Outflows Halve; Integration 'making Good Progress'

The institutional channel saw an increase in outflows of £4.5bn to £14.9bn, where the group said "market conditions remain challenging" but this was partly offset by "a £3bn improvement in outflows from its wholesale channel" where net outflows were recorded at £2.2bn, down from £5.2bn for the same period in 2016.

Overall, Aberdeen Standard Investments saw £17.2bn in redemptions from its equities range leading to net outflows of £5.3bn for the period, while fixed income saw £2.7bn in net outflows and multi-asset saw £5.6bn in net outflows.

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Combined with the Standard Life Pension and Savings business, total outflows for Standard Life Aberdeen stood at £23bn.

Meanwhile, the group said its total assets under management and administration (AUMA) was "stable" at £646.2bn, compared to £647.6bn at the end of December 2016, but AUMA at Aberdeen Standard Investments was down to £569.7bn from £580.6bn at the start of the period.

However, the group said it is "seeing good momentum" across a range of products with gross inflows of £58.6bn. There was "particularly strong demand" for emerging market debt and multi-asset solutions such as MyFolio and diversified growth funds.

Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch, chief executive officers of the group, which completed its merger in August, said: "Standard Life Aberdeen is making good progress towards creating a world-class investment company.

"The integration of Aberdeen Standard Investments is on track and we are delighted with the way the teams are coming together to deliver for clients.

"While the combined business has experienced net outflows, these were in line with our expectations given the asset classes affected and the structural outflows from our lower margin mature books. Nevertheless the momentum in our business is good with £58.6bn of gross inflows during the period.

"We continue to innovate, launching new funds with strong backing from clients and winning new mandates across a wide range of investment strategies.

"Standard Life, our pensions and savings business has had record flows year to date demonstrating further strength and diversity of our business.

"We remain confident of delivering long-term value for our clients, our people and our shareholders."