Assets under management rose 15% to £170bn for Aviva’s wealth arm for the year ended 31 December 2023 despite a drop in net flows.

Net flows fell 9% to £8.3bn for the year (2022: £9.1bn). Of these net flows, £2.1bn were attributable to Aviva’s platform business.

Net flows also dropped for Aviva Investors to £0.7bn (2022: £1.3bn), with operating profit dipping to £21m (2022: £25m).

Revenues for the investment arm were 9% lower at £346m (2022: £379m) which Aviva said reflected the impact of weak investment markets.

In the annual results released this morning, Aviva reiterated that its wealth division was central to its strategy and represented a considerable opportunity for growth for the group.

IFRS profit for the year saw a large improvement of 207% to £1.1bn in profit in comparison to a £1.03bn loss in 2022.

Overall operating profit for the group rose 9% to £1.47bn (2022: £1.35bn).

The provider said it had made significant cost saving across the business, having met its £750m cost reduction target a year before forecast.

Retirement sales rose 14% to over £7.088bn (2022: £6.238bn), driven by £5.5bn of bulk purchase annuity transactions and increased demand for individual annuities which saw an increase of 17%.

Protection and health sales rose 16%, driven by a 41% increase in health and 13% increase individual protection sales. Aviva attributed much of this growth to strong IFA sales for the year.

Amanda Blanc, group CEO of Aviva, said: “We have made significant progress in 2023. Sales are up, costs are down, and operating profit is 9% higher. Our position as the UK’s leading diversified insurer, with major businesses in Canada and Ireland, is clearly delivering.

“Today we have raised our total dividend by 8% to 33.4 pence and have now returned more than £9bn in capital and dividends to shareholders over the last three years.”

With surplus capital available for reinvestment in the business, Aviva also announced a £300m share buyback.