Assets under management for the wealth arm grew to £186bn (31 December 2023: £170bn).

Aviva said it expects its wealth arm to continue a “strong growth momentum” for the second half of the year.

The provider has often said that its wealth division is central to its strategy and represents a considerable opportunity for growth for the group.

Aviva’s retirement arm saw lower sales of £3bn (HY32: £3.2bn) driven by the contraction of the equity release market and a drop in bulk purchase annuity transactions.

Protection sales for the group rose 49% following the completion of its acquisition of AIG UK in April.

Group operating profit rose 14% to £875m (HY232: £765m).

At 30 June, total group assets under management were £398bn.

Aviva’s interim dividend was increased by 7% to 11.9pence.

Amanda Blanc, group CEO at Aviva, said: “Aviva continues to benefit significantly from the balanced and diversified business we have built and lead. We are the only UK insurer which can look after customers’ entire insurance, wealth and retirement needs, and this is paying off. We have 270,000 more customers this year and 4.9 million UK customers have more than one policy with us.”

She added that Aviva is planning to launch a new venture and growth capital strategy to open up new investment opportunities for its pension customers. She claimed the new venture could help, “unlock billions of pounds of investment” into unlisted growth companies.