Royal London completed £27m of protection sales in 2024 – up by 11% on the previous year, according to its full year financial results.
The mutual’s financial results for the year 31 December 2024, showed contribution from protection new business contribution rose from £23m to £27m year-on-year, while present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) rose to £846m from £760m over the same period.
Higher volumes
The group attributed the increase in protection new business sales to higher volumes across its whole of life, menu and funeral plan propositions, with increased volumes within its large case proposition.
Meanwhile the group pointed to its new business margin increasing to 3.2% due to a change in product mix as key factor behind the increase in new business contribution increasing.
Over in Ireland, the mutual saw protection new business sales rise from £179m in 2023 to £188m in 2024.
Smaller individual protection market
However, the group also noted that the overall size of the individual protection market decreased as a result of lower mortgage sales.
It added its market share had increased year-on-year as it continued to evolve and improve its offering, while 99% of protection claims were paid out during 2024, providing £702m to more than 61,000 customers and their families.
Aegon Part VII transfer
July 2024 also saw Royal London complete the Part VII transfer of Aegon UK’s closed book of individual protection business, with nearly 400,000 customers transferring to Royal London and more than 1.2 million advised protection customers now supported.
Delivering good outcomes
A further key focus for the group of the past year has been delivering good outcomes for customers throughout their lives.
Royal London revealed nearly a quarter of a million customers are now registered on its My Royal London portal, enabling them to access information to help them understand their plans and options.
The mutual added that it has also had a particular focus on ensuring that customers who are considering cancelling their policies understand the valuable benefits they could lose.
According to the group, this initiative has led to many customers choosing to retain their policies and reduce their cover, instead of cancelling completely.
Over the year, Royal London has also been working to help advisers by notifying them when customers’ premiums have stopped, to allow them to explore alternative options to support customers’ financial resilience.
IP refresh
Enhancements to its proposition in 2024 included a refresh of the group’s income protection proposition, to enable more customers to have the right cover, online trust arrangements to include whole of life cover and, in an industry first, allowing people cohabiting together to be named as beneficiaries.
Ex-smokers and new ‘joint life second death’ product
The year also saw Royal London also introduce improvements to enable more accurate pricing for ex-smokers and launch a new ‘joint life second death’ product – which provides a pay out on the second person covered in a joint policy if they die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness – to support inheritance tax planning.
Operating profit up
Group operating profit before tax also increased by 11% to £277m from £249m in 2023, which the group said was supported by increased new business contribution across all its main product lines and a growing book of in-force business.
Continually enhancing offerings
Barry O’Dwyer, group CEO at Royal London, (pictured) said: “Royal London is customer-owned and is run for the benefit of customers, not shareholders.
“We share our profits with eligible customers and our ProfitShare scheme will distribute £181m to 2.3 million customers in April.
“This was underpinned by the business delivering an 11% increase in operating profit to £277m in 2024.
“Our customer focus means we continually enhance our offerings and digital services to help customers build their financial resilience, often partnering with independent financial advisers.
“We have recently launched an innovative new online application process for individual pensions business, making it substantially easier for advisers to work with us.
“Our customer-first approach also appeals to employers wanting to pick the best possible offering and, in 2024, nearly 1,000 employers chose to establish a Royal London Workplace Pension scheme, very often moving from a shareholder-owned competitor.
“2024 also saw Royal London enter the bulk purchase annuity market, giving trustees the option of choosing the only customer-owned provider in this market.”
