Insurance positive for Commbank
The Commonwealth Bank suffered declines in both funds under administration (FUM) and funds under administration (FUA) in the March quarter but witnessed a pick-up in insurance sales.
The banking group announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) today that FUA at 31 March were down 1.7 per cent to $189 billion for the quarter while FUM were down 2.6 per cent to $145 billion.
It said that FUA had been impacted by outflows from wholesale short-term cash mandates while FUM had been impacted by outflows from short-term cash mandates.
By comparison, it said its FirstChoice platform had recorded positive net flows of $702 million for the quarter.
However, it was insurance that represented a highlight for the banking group in the March quarter with in-force premiums up 3.1 per cent to $1,545 million, driven by what it described as a solid increase in wholesale life and consistent growth in retail life and general insurance.
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