General insurance may be booming, but its life and investment cousins are finding the going tougher. The Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) says member companies didn’t achieve their optimal profit growth for the 2002 financial year, with about 25% of managers reporting a fall in profits.

But IFSA’s fifth annual industry survey compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows more than 50% of survey participants expecting a profit of more than 10% for 2002, and none expecting negative revenue growth.

Between 2002 and 2003 assets under management fell by 1%, and while the figure is at odds with predictions, IFSA says “it presents a somewhat positive contrast to the European and US markets where there were double digit declines in funds under management”.

Many clients have resisted the switch to lower-risk clients, thanks to intermediaries. IFSA says financial planners and the wider industry “have educated investors to ride the economic cycle and stick to their long-term asset allocations that are designed to reduce volatility”.