Despite lower overall inflows into its platform Aviva bosses are pleased with its performance in a challenging market.
The firm’s 2023 results published this morning (March 7) show inflows into the platform were down 45 per cent.
It recorded platform inflows of £2.1bn, compared with £3.9bn in 2022.
Doug Brown, CEO of insurance, wealth and retirement at Aviva, said: “We were down but we're still down less than the market, so I'm really pleased with our performance.
“There is still uncertainty in the market and the macroeconomic conditions aren't great, so we will probably still see subdued flows.
“Going forward I would hope flows increase and get back to where they were.
“It is early days into this year but we're seeing better flows, but there's still a lot of uncertainty in the market and that will play through for a while.”
Brown said while there was expected to be some improvement this year, flows in 2024 are likely to be similar to that of 2023 with a “more buoyant” outlook for the longer term.
In January, Aviva announced it had extended its contracts with Diligenta and FNZ.
The firm’s results show integration and restructuring costs related to this were £61mn.
The results read: “Benefits of this restructuring programme will include a significant reduction in the operating cost base of the IWR business, resulting in higher capital generation and cash remittances.”
Looking forward to 2024, Brown expects Aviva to see an uptick in business from advisers.
He said: “We are very keen to support advice and that is one of the reasons we bought Succession, that is an important distribution channel for us.
In September, Aviva bought AIG’s UK protection business for £460mn.
Brown added: “That will add another 1.1mn customers to our protection book.
“There's a lot of things that AIG does from a partnership perspective from some of what they do on the group side, on on the SME, and even within the high net worth segment
“All of that is driven mostly through advisers, so we'd expect to see continued growth moving forward.”
Overall, Aviva said group operating profit was up 9 per cent to £1.4bn.
The firm also reported being the number one provider of workplace pensions recording £6.9bn of net flows boosted by gaining 477 new schemes during the year.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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