On the go: Aviva recorded £2.4bn of bulk purchase annuity deals in the third quarter, bringing its year-to-date volumes to £4bn, according to a trading update from the company on Thursday.
The insurer and pension provider said it expects to write £5bn to £6bn of BPA volumes in total this year, following “strong sales in the third quarter and a good pipeline of transactions”.
Chris Rice, senior actuarial director at consultancy Broadstone, said Aviva’s result reflected wider market trends.
“Aviva’s results are typical of the market for 2021, a quieter first half than recent history and a contrasting exceptionally busy second half. Insurers are currently at capacity finalising deals in their pipelines, leading to an expected total volume of transactions for 2021 in the £25bn to £30bn range,” he said.
“Improvements in scheme funding levels and competitive pricing are contributing to another year of significant risk being transferred. Indications are that this pipeline is growing, with insurers expected to be busy into the new year.
“This all emphasises the need for schemes to be well prepared when approaching the bulk annuity market.”
Elsewhere, Aviva recorded an increase in savings and retirement net flows of 21 per cent to £7.3bn in the third quarter, while savings and retirement sales were up 34 per cent.
Platform net flows at the business jumped 62 per cent to £4.2bn, while workplace sales rose by 24 per cent.
Doug Brown, chief executive of UK and Ireland life at Aviva, said: “I’m delighted with the growth we’ve delivered in our UK life business. New business sales are strong and we’re continuing to see excellent growth in savings and retirement.
“I’m particularly pleased with the continued growth in our platform business, where we have seen a very buoyant advised market building on our record tax year-end. We’re continuing to see strong demand and an increase in customer confidence.”
He continued: “Saving for retirement is increasingly important and our workplace pensions business has seen higher sales, boosted by new scheme wins. We are also continuing to help companies derisk their own pension schemes through BPA deals like those with the Kingfisher Pension Scheme and the John Laing Pension Fund secured in Q3.”
