Royal London has seen growth across its pensions and protection businesses over the nine months to the end of September.
Group pensions were up 11 per cent to £1.9bn, compared with the third quarter of 2014, but this increase was eclipsed by individual pensions, up 52 per cent to £1.4bn over the same period.
Intermediary protection products rose by 51 per cent to £362m compared with the third quarter last year, while drawdown sales increased 67 per cent to £966m.
The mutual’s latest statement explained that workplace pensions remain “buoyant” on the back of strong demand from advisers and employers.
Income release continues to be the market-leading simplified drawdown proposition for advised clients, on the back of April’s at-retirement reforms.
Protection continues to build momentum as the group moves towards bringing Bright Grey and Scottish Provident together under a single Royal London brand.
September saw the launch of a new underwriting comparison service pilot with UnderwriteMe and further improvements to the Bright Grey critical illness product.
The Ascentric wrap platform saw gross sales of £1.9bn at 30 September - up from £1.6bn on 30 September 2014 - a 19 per cent improvement.
The group stated that converting platform assets into a retirement income has become a major feature of the market, whilst its white label business expanded through the creation of an Enhanced Retirement Account product in conjunction with Partnership.
Phil Loney, group chief executive of Royal London, said that having now come through the initial period of pension freedoms, new trends are emerging in the market.
“Clearly a lot more advisers are recommending income drawdown for their clients and we have seen advisers choosing to transfer their clients into our flexible personal pension arrangement in anticipation of exercising freedoms at some point in the future.”
peter.walker@ft.com
