Overall, total new life and pensions business at the RL group increased 6% to £3.3bn (€3.4bn, $5.2bn) during the period 1 January to 31 December 2011, from £3.1bn in 2010.
However, the company’s UK-focused asset management division, Royal London Asset Management, saw its net new business fall by two-thirds (67%) during the period, decreasing from £1.13bn in 2010 to £379m last year.
Of the significant drop, the group said RLAM continued to attract new money across all asset classes and that long-term performance remains strong despite the “prevailing economic environment, ongoing market volatility and uncertain outlook”.
The company’s other subsidiaries fared better, with Edinburgh-based pension specialist Scottish Life reporting a 4% increase in new business, from £2.2bn to £2.3bn, and Bright Grey and Scottish Provident reporting strong new business growth, with a 17% increase over the period.
Isle of Man-based RL 360°, meanwhile wrote £398m of new business during 2011, compared to £329m during 2010. The company said the results reflected strong performance across “much of the product range”, including “exceptional sales” of its international single premium products, PIMS and Oracle and its international regular savings product, Quantum.
RL 360° chief executive David Kneeshaw said: “2011 was a fantastic year and reflected all of the hard work everyone put in to change the company, launch new products and move into new territories. This is only the beginning. We have new technology coming in this year which will vastly improve the overall service experience for advisers and customers.”
