Royal London assets hit record £212bn amid pension demand
Key Takeaways
- •Assets under management reached a record £212bn, supported by positive market movements and pension inflows.
- •Operating profit increased 13% to £187m, helped by protection, workplace pension and asset management businesses.
- •Pension new business sales rose 5% to £4.7bn, with the workplace pension channel leading growth.
- •Workplace AUM climbed 15% to £43.6bn and customer numbers increased by 112,000 to 2.3m.
- •Protection sales rose 6% to £438m as some customers acted ahead of pensions entering inheritance tax scope from next financial year.
Royal London recorded a new record high for assets under management as the group was supported by resilient market activity and an influx of pension wealth.
Assets under management (AUM) climbed to £212bn, up from £199bn at the end of the last financial year, driven by positive market movements and investors taking the “Iran war in their stride”.
Royal London chief executive Barry O’Dwyer said: “There have obviously been impacts in parts…but the market has proved incredibly resilient despite everything that’s happening in the outside world.”
Gross inflows were flat at £22.4bn, while net inflows fell from £4.1bn to £1.8bn. The mutual said the decline was because inflows in the prior year received a significant boost from winning a £4.6bn multi asset mandate with St James’s Place.
The group reported a 13 per cent rise in operating profit to £187m, helped by higher contributions from its protection and workplace pension businesses as well as asset management.
Pension new business sales rose five per cent to £4.7bn, led by the workplace pension channel. The figures point to how pension consolidation and workplace schemes continue to shape flows across the UK savings market, where automatic enrolment and transfers from older arrangements remain important drivers of activity.
The segment posted a 13 per cent increase in sales to £2.4bn, supported by higher transfer volumes and new entrants to the market. Customer numbers rose by 112,000 to 2.3m.
O’Dwyer said the increase in customers reflects “people having more focus on their retirement plans and consolidating old pensions into their new workplace providers”.
Workplace AUM increased 15 per cent to £43.6bn.
Protection sales rose six per cent to £438m, as the group saw more activity in its high-net-worth business, with customers choosing to address their pensions ahead of changes to the system in April 2027.
From the next financial year, pensions will fall within the scope of inheritance tax (IHT).
O’Dwyer said: “It doesn’t take that much for people to be in that inheritance tax net, so a lot of these people are buying life insurance in order… to pay the tax bill when it comes.”
In the first half of the year, the group paid out 98 per cent of protection claims, returning £392m to customers.
