Net new business at Royal London Asset Management fell by 66 per cent in the first nine months of 2011, down to £218 million (about $350 million) from £649 million in 2010.

Despite the downturn, RLAM said it is happy that flows were positive despite the dire market conditions toward the end of the period.

The asset management arm, which manages external assets as well as assets for the whole group which is essentially a mutual life and pensions company, recorded £42 billion in client assets, down from £43.7 billion at the end of the second quarter but £1 billion more than at the same time last year.

Ascentric, the group’s wrap platform, saw assets under administration increase by 20 per cent to just over £1 billion compared with £868 million at the start of the year. In the past 12 months, the platform has boosted assets under administration by 60 per cent.

At the end of last month, Ascentric added Hawksmoor Investment Management to the platform, and said it expected to add another seven discretionary fund managers by the end of year, taking the total to 30.