HBOS Australia subsidiary St Andrew's Australia has made a before tax profit of $8.4 million for the half year to June 30 2006, a 147 per cent increase on the previous corresponding period.
HBOS Australia subsidiary St Andrew's Australia has made a before tax profit of $8.4 million for the half year to June 30 2006, a 147 per cent increase on the previous corresponding period.
The company also posted a 95 per cent increase in its revenue for the half year.
St Andrew's managing director John Van Der Wielen said the division, an insurance and wealth management business, was on track to achieve its growth targets for 2006.
"Throughout the last 12 months our insurance business gained significant momentum demonstrating the success of our strategy to provide a more competitive market and make insurance and investment products more accessible to Australian consumers," said Mr Van Der Wielen.
"In the first part of 2006 we grew St Andrew's insurance sales by 54 per cent measured in premium income, and our policy numbers are projected to continue this growth in the next few years."
Mr Van Der Wielen said this growth had been supported by the acquisition of the RAC Victoria's financial services, the expansion of its planning force and the increased sales coming from strong lending growth.
HBOS Australia is also the parent company of BankWest. St Andrew's was established as part of HBOS acquisition of BankWest to be the group's financial services business.
In the WA market St Andrews acts as the product manufacturer. Its products are branded 'BankWest' and distributed by in-house BankWest financial planners leveraging off the bank's large branch network.
The full announcement is pasted below
St Andrew's Australia, the wealth and insurance arm of HBOS Australia, today announced a 95 per cent increase in its revenue, boosting profits 147 per cent on the previous corresponding period.
Profit before tax is $8.4 million for the first half of the financial year to June 2006.
Other highlights of the results were:
- Funds under management and advice up 13 per cent annualised to $432 million;
- Continued expansion of financial planning field force
These results were achieved while continuing to invest in people, systems and new products to support future growth, and reflect a full period of RACV Financial Services acquisition.
The announcement follows the recent release of HBOS Australia's results, which showed continuing strong growth of the group's five business streams, including St Andrew's.
Announcing the results, St Andrew's Managing Director John Van Der Wielen said the division was on track to achieve its growth targets for 2006.
He was particularly pleased with the encouraging early success of the newly released Lite Life insurance product through BankWest and other partnered financial institutions that included banks, building societies, credit unions and finance companies.
"Throughout the last 12 months our insurance business gained significant momentum demonstrating the success of our strategy to provide a more competitive market and make insurance and investment products more accessible to Australian consumers," said Mr Van Der Wielen.
"In the first part of 2006 we grew St Andrew's insurance sales by 54 per cent measured in premium income, and our policy numbers are projected to continue this growth in the next few years."
Wealth operations also continued to grow with Top 200, Australia's first direct index fund, attracting strong customer support since its launch in October 2005.
Mr Van Der Wielen said that St Andrew's strong growth had been supported by the RACV acquisition, the expansion of its planning force and the increased sales coming from strong lending growth.
The division had recruited extensively and made a number of key appointments in the first half of 2000, including the appointment of Paul Northey as Director Wealth Management. It would continue with an aggressive recruitment drive in the remainder of the year.
Mr Van Der Wielen said St Andrew's continued to leverage the growth strategy of the broader HBOS Australia group.
"As part of HBOS Australia, we've been able to leverage our ability to cross-sell within the group to BankWest customers. Inside and outside the HBOS Australia group we've focussed on attracting customers by providing low-cost, straightforward products which offer good value for money," he said.
"We will also continue to leverage the experience and expertise of our parent HBOSplc in the UK, where bancassurance is a key component of the HBOS plc retail model, and insurance and investment contributes around 20 per cent of group revenue."