Aegon assets reach £117bn

Aegon UK, which employs 2,2400 staff at its Edinburgh Park headquarters, including 286 in the Kames Capital-branded asset management arm, has seen platform assets swell to £117 billion, on the back of net inflows of £2.1 billion in Q4, full-year results have revealed.

In the UK, earnings for Q4 were stable at €23 million (£22 billion), with life earnings and the protection business in line with earnings from 2016. Full year earnings increased 94 per cent to £109 million.

Aegon became the biggest platform provider in the UK after it bought Cofunds from L&G in August 2016 for £140 million.

Aegon UK chief executive Adrian Grace, said: “It’s our belief that the platform market is about scale and efficiency we’ve taken huge strides in both areas over the last twelve months. In 2016 we added £7 billion to the platform taking us to £13.4 billion of assets. This year thanks to the Cofunds acquisition and exceptional organic growth we added over £15 billion taking us to £117 billion. The strong performance of our overall business meant we delivered earnings of £22 million in Q4 and we’ve also increased earnings by 94 per cent over the last twelve months taking us to £109 million for the year.”

Mr Grace added: “We have built services that enable intermediaries to manage both individual and workplace savings on a single platform and to invest in a wide range of assets including funds, ETFs and Investment Trusts all without the need for paper processes.”

In December Aegon upgraded 79,000 customers from IPS (Investor Portfolio Service) to Aegon platform technology “without any disruption to trading” which Mr Grace credited with increased use of the service on the firm’s new digital portal.

Mr Grace said: “The next phase of the integration will be to upgrade the institutional clients in the next few weeks and the main Cofunds retail book in May. This process remains on budget and on track and we’ll continue to communicate regularly with advisers about what to expect in the coming months. Upgrading the technology and proposition that the Cofunds institutional and retail book has been using will mark a significant moment in bringing the two business together.”