GLOBAL - Aviva Investors, the asset management arm of the bancassurance giant Aviva Group, increased its presence in the Polish and Dutch pensions markets in the first nine months of this year.

Details of Aviva's business activity results for the year-to-date ending 30 September 2008 suggest the firm has seen growth gains in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in The Netherlands, as sales rose 78% in the Netherlands on the back of "increased focus on corporate pension schemes" while growth in Poland and Romania rose by 108%.

The company today reported its global long-term savings sales stood at £2.9bn though the overall figure was reduced by 5% once local currency rates were applied, and its

Polish activity in the life and pensions market saw sales rise 90% albeit this was sparked largely by the sale of short-term endowments alongside developments of Aviva's regular premium pension plan at Commercial Union PTE and CU OFE - the firm's giant pension fund.

Similarly, in Romania, sales rose to £359m, in part because of the one-off impact of reforms to the provision of compulsory pensions worth £336m to Aviva.

Its presence in Turkey, through a joint venture with AK Bank, is also said to be "strong" although officials acknowledge there is "increasing market competition".

In the UK, Aviva has been the beneficiary of 30 bulk annuity pension scheme deals worth £462m in assets.

It is unclear, however, whether the Aviva Investors division now had seen any reecnt change to its assets under management at the time of publication as the firm reported its Aviva Investors division had funds under management of £235bn at the end of Q3, and there are no official comparison figures as the division was created on 22 September and data prior to this date included the funds managed through its Dutch division Delta Lloyd - now contained as a separate entity.

According to data published for 20 June 2008, the group's funds under management stood at £307bn - including Delta Lloyd - compared with £316bn at the end of 2007.

That said, the company has seen some direct exposure to the crisis sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, as Aviva reported actual defaults from Lehman, AIG, Bradford & Bingley, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Washington Mutual lowered its assets by £400m.

The company has recently increased its hedging position against volatility by purchasing a further £2.5bn in hedges to its equity exposure, alongside the £2bn hedge already held.