Royal London completed £11m of protection sales in the first half of 2024, unchanged from the previous year.
The mutual’s interim financial results for the six months to 30 June 2024, showed the overall new business contribution and margin was unchanged at £11m and 2.9% respectively for its protection arm.,
The figures also showed protection product premiums grew by 8% year-on-year using the alternative present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) measure, rising to £399m from £368m in the first half of 2023.
The group attributed this to higher sales of whole of life and funeral plan policies, adding that following an increased focus on high-net-worth customers it successfully built capability and credibility in this part of the market.
It also pointed out that as a result of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty, it was continuing to see increasing interest from advisers who traditionally have not focussed on protection, with many now seeking to write business themselves or refer to a protection specialist.
In Ireland, protection sales increased more marginally – to £90m from £89m in H1 2023.
Claims payout up
The first half of the year saw the group approve 98.9% of protection claims, down slightly from 99.1% in H1 2023. However it paid out a total of £355m to approximately 36,000 customers, up from £343m in H1 2023.
Last month, Royal London successfully completed the transfer of Aegon UK’s closed individual protection book, adding nearly 400,000 new customers and their financial advisers and increasing the total number of advised UK protection customers it serves to more than 1.4 million.
Profits up
Across the group, Royal London saw operating profit before tax increase by 13% to £144m from £127m in H1 2023 and assets under management grow to £169bn from £162bn as of 31 December 2023.
Barry O’Dwyer, group chief executive officer at Royal London (pictured), said: “Customer satisfaction with Royal London continues to rise, particularly over the last year.
“The strength of our relationships with financial advisers and businesses offering workplace pension schemes has underpinned a 13% increase in group operating profit for the first half of 2024. When we perform well our customers benefit and, in April, we shared over £163m with over two million eligible customers through our ProfitShare scheme.
“With an estimated £3trn invested in UK pensions, it is understandable pensions are viewed as being able to play a powerful role in supporting UK economic growth. However, it is important to remember the primary role of pensions is to fund customers’ retirement.
“The new government has an opportunity to build on the success of automatic enrolment by creating a long-term plan that would have a positive impact on retirement outcomes while also generating investment to help finance growth.”