Skandia platform business boosts Old Mutual UK sales

Skandia's platform sales have bolstered Old Mutual's interim results in the UK, with total net inflows of £0.4bn.

However, due to a decision last year to remove the front-end margin on the Skandia platform in a bid to increase market share, the value of UK business fell 69% to £5m compared with the first half of 2008. Old Mutual's operating earnings across the UK business also dropped to £13m from £135m last year for the same period, while the value of new business fell by £9m. Unit trust and mutual fund sales across Europe stabilised in the first half of 2009, falling only 4% from £1.94bn to £1.85bn during a turbulent time for global markets. Poor investment returns in most European markets r...