SLI reports £1bn net outflow from bond funds prior to Ignis rates team exit

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Standard Life Investments has reported a £1bn net outflow from its fixed income products over the nine months to September, with the subsequent departure of the Ignis rates team adding to outflows.

The SLI bond fund range saw gross redemptions of £2.7bn, versus £1.7bn in gross inflows over the reporting period, while its equity funds saw a net outflow of £300m.

Ignis' third party funds saw £200m in net inflows over the period, but its life book saw a £700m net outflow.

SLI acknowledged "an increase in redemptions" from the Ignis Absolute Return Government Bond fund, which saw the exit of manager Ross Oxley earlier this month. However, the group said the integration of the firm is proceeding well.

SLI also reported net inflows of £3.7bn into its multi-asset funds, which include the Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) product, as gross inflows of £8.5bn more than offset £4.8bn in redemptions. 

The GARS team has continued to see managers exit - in May Ian Pizer moved to Aviva Investors, which has launched a rival product. His former colleague Euan Munro became Aviva Investors chief executive in January. 

At the regional level, UK and North American equities received the largest net inflows, at £1.5bn and £1.2bn respectively.

In total, SLI's third-party assets under administration from continued operations soared 82% from the same period last year, to £158.9bn. This included £18.8bn of third-party assets from its latest acquisition Ignis, excluding life books.

Standard Life's assets under administration as a whole were £290bn. Assets on the Standard Life platform jumped 18% since the start of the year, to £22.4bn.

Fee revenue from continuing operations was up 13% to £1.032bn year-to-date, including acquisitions.

Standard Life chief executive David Nish said the completed acquisition of Ignis Asset Management marks good strategic progress: “We are also strongly placed to deal with the far-reaching reforms to the savings and retirement income rules, announced earlier this year by the UK government."

Looking ahead, the firm said it is on track to achieve an EBITDA margin of 45% by 2017. 

It added a proposed sale of its Canadian operations would enable it to return £1.75bn of capital to shareholders.

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