Legal & General’s Retirement business continues to experience strong growth in pension de-risking and lifetime mortgages. Customer demand has not been impacted by the introduction of Solvency II in 2016, the uncertainty around Brexit, and ‘lower for longer’ interest rates.
In the UK and US Legal & General has written over £400 million in bulk annuity business during the month of September alone. Lifetime Mortgages delivered record sales this quarter, and are on track to exceed £500 million of sales in 2016. Since June 30th Legal & General Retirement has written over £1.4 billion in sales, and the Group has started to invest in US infrastructure assets, to support its growing US pensions de-risking business.
Infrastructure investment forms a key part of our annuity portfolio investment strategy. £6.2 billion of the annuity portfolio is currently invested in infrastructure assets, of which almost £1 billion has been invested this year. Our £250 million investments into Transport for London’s new headquarters and the London Gateway port, deliver materially enhanced higher risk adjusted returns to our shareholders.
Kerrigan Procter, Managing Director of Legal & General Retirement, said: “Legal & General Retirement is on track to double new business sales in 2016. Companies still need to manage their defined benefit pension plans, and people still want to achieve financial security in retirement, regardless of the uncertain political, regulatory or economic backdrop.
“Legal & General’s aim is to both create and invest in new real productive assets. This allows us to fulfil pension promises to our customers in an efficient way, deliver attractive risk adjusted returns for our shareholders, and also drive job creation and economic growth which is good for business and customers.
“Legal & General entered the lifetime mortgage market last year, and the business has grown rapidly. Customers want more choice in how they fund their retirement, and accessing wealth that is tied up in their home is an attractive solution for asset rich retirees. I expect lifetime mortgages to be even more popular with customers in 2017.”
Legal & General Retirement sales since June 30th are £1.4bn, comprising of £1.2 billion for pension de-risking, £130 million of lifetime mortgages, and £90 million of individual annuities. In July Legal & General signed 5-year distribution agreements with Santander for lifetime mortgages, and Aegon for individual annuities.
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