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Underlying earnings before tax up 37% to £22 million due to improved persistency on Q4 2013
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Fast-growing platform: Platform assets under administration reach £2.7 billion with inflows of £0.3 billion
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Aegon’s market leading platform is the only platform in the UK which provides solutions for advisers, workplace based employees and non-advised customers to and through retirement
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Drawdown inflows on the platform in Q4 2014 up 40% on Q4 2013
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Protection volumes increase by 25% relative to Q4 2013 and increased 20% in 2014 over the full year compared to 2013
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Aegon acquired 49,000 new customers in Q4
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300 new auto-enrolment schemes were added in Q4 compared to 97 in Q3
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Aegon continued to invest in preparations for the introduction of the new pension flexibilities in April 2015
Aegon’s platform, which was launched in 2012, reached £2.7bn assets under management this quarter. Aegon expects to see continued growth of the platform business as the new pension flexibilities are introduced by the Government enabling customers to have more freedom and choice with what they can do with their pension savings from April 2015.
Aegon’s protection business also continued to grow following the launch of the new whole of life product in Q4 contributing to the 25% increase in protection volumes relative to Q4 2013 and the increase of 20% relative to the full year compared to 2013.
Aegon acquired 49,000 new customers this quarter. This could be attributed to the ongoing attraction of the platform as well as the success of Aegon’s auto-enrolment programme, which staged a further 300 new schemes this quarter.
Adrian Grace, CEO of Aegon UK said:
“As the legislative revolution continued to unfold across the pensions industry at the end of 2014 we drove forward with the development of our multi-channel platform which provides solutions for advisers, workplace based employees and non-advised customers, to and through retirement on a single platform. We believe this is unique in the market today.
Retirement Income
“In December we outlined our proposition plans for retiring customers and their advisers looking to take advantage of the pension reforms. The first stage of these plans will start to be delivered in the next couple of weeks, with the launch of our retirement income planning tools which will help customers make informed choices about their options leading up to retirement. We know that many customers want personal help and advice with these complex options.”
“Our full retirement income suite, including providing pension freedom options for existing customers, will be rolled out during the course of the year to support the pension reforms. Our global experience in the variable annuity and guarantees field, will enable us to further enhance our existing market leading drawdown proposition with the addition of a guaranteed pension product. Uniquely, this will be fully integrated into our multi-channel platform.”
“In the last six months the market has predicted the growth in the demand for drawdown as a result of the pension flexibilities. In Q4 we started to see this trend take hold as the amount of money being moved into drawdown on the platform through Aegon Retirement Choices and One Retirement, increased by 40% on Q4 2013.”
Investments
“We believe that it is critical that advisers have a range of investment options open to them to use to help meet their customers’ needs. We support all types of advisory business models, from the use of open architecture funds and Discretionary Fund Managers right through to single fund solutions, allowing advisers to choose the investment solutions that best suit them and their customers. All of our in-house fund solutions are subject to high quality governance, giving added peace of mind and making it easy for an adviser, and their customers, to have confidence in their investment recommendations. Our range of investment solutions is being constantly improved and refreshed, most recently with our new stability fund and high income solutions.
“Our goal is to provide investment solutions that meet customer needs, support the adviser’s business model and give confidence and peace of mind through our rigorous governance approach.”
Support
“We recognise that advisers and customers have a challenging year ahead of them and advisers need to react quickly to the pension developments in order to be able to maximise the opportunities the reforms will bring. The industry is on a steep learning curve but we’ve taken several steps to help advisers understand the impact of these changes so they can continue to provide the best advice to their customers. Through webinars, workshops, technical factsheets and the provision of various digital tools, that have all been well received by the adviser community, we feel we have helped advisers navigate the changing landscape to provide the best advice for their customers and will continue to do so.”
Retiready
“We have made pioneering steps in the non-advised market by offering consumers a simple, rewarding and reassuring way of getting themselves ready for retirement through our digital, mobile-first Retiready service. We are looking to work with advisers on how we can make this service available to their customers, where appropriate, to help them provide a cost effective service that meets the needs of those customers.”
Supporting employers and employees
“We will shortly be announcing some exciting developments to support employers and employees that will also enhance the ability of advisers to provide high value advice services to key employees when they want and need them.
“Our focus is on helping advisers by offering the choice and support they need to help their customers achieve their retirement ambitions in light of the changes ahead.”
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