St George Bank's financial planners have increased their productivity by an unprecedented 61 per cent with money flowing into the group's retail platform Asgard rising 48 per cent in 12 months.
Yesterday Australia's fifth largest bank announced a record profit of $1.16 billion for the year ended September 30 2007, a jump of 11 per cent for the 12 months.
The wealth portfolio returned a net profit before tax of $210 million.
This comprised 12 per cent of the bank's pre-tax profit, the same as last year.
The bank's wealth businesses - Asgard Wealth Solutions, Advance Asset Management, margin lending, financial planning and insurance - experienced double-digit growth. Revenue across the division grew by 15 per cent.
The result is the continuation of five years of growth, Asgard Wealth Solutions chief executive Geoff Lloyd said.
"It's an outstanding result this year...we're very proud. The team has done a great job," Lloyd said.
Asgard's funds under administration rose by 28.6 per cent to $37.3 billion.
Managed funds grew by 26.7 per cent to $49.7 billion on the back of the Federal Government's superannuation changes and strong equity markets.
The bank put the strong performance of the division down to deeper penetration across the wealth customer base, investments in infrastructure and highly productive distribution channels.
Branch-based planners increased their productivity by 61 per cent and planners with St George dealer group Securitor increased their productivity by 56 per cent.
The productivity of planners the previous year increased by between 30 and 40 per cent, Lloyd said.
The bank has rolled out a number of practice management tools and has made continual improvements to its planner software AdviserNetgain.
"Our focus is on the enablement of advice," Lloyd said. "The tools we've been investing in the past are paying off."
The bank declared earnings per share growth of 11.8 per cent, a result that was at the higher end of previous market guidance of 11 to 12 per cent.
A fully franked dividend of 86 cents was returned to shareholders, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.
A successor is yet to be announced to replace the bank's former chief executive Gail Kelly, who departed recently to run larger rival Westpac.
