Generation Life finished calendar year 2024 with $3.84 billion in funds under management (FUM), a 31 per cent lift over the last 12 months.
This, the company said, reflected the highest annual FUM growth in its history, with $254 million of the increase secured in the last quarter of the year.
In an ASX announcement on Wednesday, Grant Hackett, chief executive of parent company Generation Development Group, said that for the first time, the firm accomplished over $250 million of gross inflows for investment bonds during a quarter.
“This was a material increase in gross inflows on the prior corresponding period of 61 per cent,” Hackett said.
“Our inflows have been very consistent throughout 2024 and for the first time in our history, we surpassed $100 million of gross inflows in the month of December,” he added.
The CEO pointed out that, while the anticipated passage of the Division 296 legislation was not achieved in early December, this hasn’t inflicted a “negative impact” on its sales pipeline or inflows.
“Investors and financial advisers appreciate that an individual’s wealth needs to be distributed and accumulated in multiple structures to avoid any unforeseen changes in legislation,” he said.
“Over the period, our active financial adviser numbers continue to grow off the back of the significant sales and marketing activity that we have undertaken throughout the year.
“Generation Life has seen a substantial increase in the engagement of financial advisers throughout 2024, utilising investment bonds as a complementary product to their clients’ overall wealth and estate planning needs, and helping their clients increase their after-tax returns.”
Hackett added that there are several initiatives that will be in the works over the next six months, including the firm’s plan to offer more tax-optimised investment options for its investors.
“These investment options are anticipated to have an effective tax rate of 10–15 per cent for investors, regardless of their marginal tax, which is consistent with our long-term track record of our tax optimised investment option,” he said.
“We have also kicked off a campaign for our investment-linked lifetime annuity, which has led to an increase in our sales pipeline for this product.”
Lonsec, which Generation Development Group fully acquired last year, saw “solid” growth on the back of continued private market offering expansion.
Lonsec’s FUM increased by 8.3 per cent to $12.7 billion in the last three months of the year, driven by inflows.
Notably, inflows increased by over 200 per cent compared to the prior corresponding period.
