Standard Life plc turns over £6.5bn inflows, Nish to focus on improving assets

The figure was up £2.2bn from 2008, with rises especially in investment management - an area of the business which is set to expand globally as noted in today's statement.

Mention was also made of the company becoming more consumer-orientated.

Nish, who moved into his new role as chief executive of the company in 1st January, plans to focus on the savings and needs of customers which include £2.3 trillion assets in the UK and £1.3 trillion assets in Canada.

"Standard Life starts 2010 in a good position." he said after their performance beat analyst expectations.

David Nish, the new chief executive, who also sold banking operations to Barclays early last year, said today that assets under administration had also increased.

'Excluding our discontinued banking operations total assets under administration increased 15 pct to £170.1bn.' read the statement.

Nish hopes that mitigation of risk - a key focus of strategy last year - would create a strong platform for the company this year.

Something he believes has been achiveved going into 2010 as Standard Life go into 2010 with an investment programme:

"We are stepping up our investment in our leading corporate and retail propositions during 2010 and are excited by many opportunities across our market." he added.