Scottish Friendly funds hit £3.5 billion

SCOTTISH Friendly, the country's largest indigenous mutual, grew funds under management and administration by more than 50 per cent to £3.5 billion last year as it reaped the benefits of several partnerships and the launch of its e-commerce business.

The rise, from 2.3bn at the end of 2009, means funds have grown more than 500 per cent over the past five years.

The Glasgow-based business will tell members at its annual general meeting today that core life and pensions sales jumped almost 50 per cent to 11.4 million despite another difficult year for the savings and investments market.

It was also a solid year for the mutual's with-profits fund, which returned 11.3 per cent.

But chief executive Fiona McBain warned that 2011 would be uncertain and would "present a number of difficulties".