Euro zone QE helps Standard Life Q1 funds boost

(Recasts, adds QE, company comments, share price)

By Carolyn Cohn

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Money-printing in the euro zone helped drive flows into Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) 's funds in the first quarter as investors searched for higher-yielding assets, the British insurer and asset manager said on Wednesday.

Bonds are posting negative yields in several European countries after the European Central Bank announced a trillion euro bond-buying - or quantitative easing - programme, which kicked in last month.

This has encouraged investment in assets such as stocks and corporate bonds.

"My funds saw very strong flows from overseas, and Europe in particular, as QE lifted the financial markets," said Keith Skeoch, chief executive of funds arm Standard Life Investments (SLI).

SLI's assets under management rose 5 percent in the first quarter, to 258.4 billion pounds ($397.13 billion), Standard Life said in a trading statement.

Standard Life's assets under administration, a broader measure of the group's performance, also rose 5 percent, to 311.9 billion pounds.

Standard Life's performance is increasingly driven by its asset management, rather than its life and pensions business.

British pensions reform, which came into effect this month and allows retirees to choose how to spend their pension pots, has encouraged a focus by insurers on products other than income-bearing annuities.

"Standard Life continues to deliver consistently on net inflows in UK pensions and asset management," said analysts at JP Morgan in a note, adding that Standard Life's results beat its forecasts and reiterating its overweight rating.

"Overall we see these as a strong set of results."

Standard Life's shares rose 0.6 percent to 469 pence at 0720 GMT. ($1 = 0.6507 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop and Jon Boyle)