M&G acquired the Ascentric adviser business from Royal London in September, bringing £15.5bn of new assets under management/administration.
In the autumn the group formally combined Ascentric with its two restricted advisory arms, Prudential Financial Planning and The Advice Partnership, as well as the M&G direct funds business to form M&G Wealth.
John Foley, chief executive of M&G, said the acquisition and formation of M&G Wealth, laid the foundations for M&G’s return to growth. He said: “Critically, it gave us an important component for our integrated wealth business: an adviser platform on which their customers' long-term savings can be consolidated and administered.”
He also lauded the shift of the company towards sustainable investing. The firm, which holds £367.2bn in assets under management and administration, has begun “pivoting the entire company to sustainable investing - a shift which we believe will benefit customers, clients and shareholders, as well as wider society and the planet.”
M&G also said in its 2020 financial results that introducing video advice in 2020 for its restricted financial advisory arms raised its advisers’ profitability and cut carbon emissions by around 80%.
It’s digital transformation programme was sped up by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic and is on track to deliver annual run-rate shareholder cost savings of £145m in 2022.
However, net inflows were down on the year for PruFund, the group’s smoothed solution for UK savers, mainly due to pandemic-related restrictions on face-to-face advice.
The firm said it plans to make PruFund available on the M&G Wealth platform.
In its financial results the group also said it has not used any financial assistance schemes from governments, including not using the UK furlough scheme.