The latest quarterly figures reported by the Association of British Insurers have indicated continued steady growth in life and pensions new business sales.
The Q3 2006 results from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) showed that he annual premium equivalent (APE) of new business sales generated an overall total of GBP3.8 billion, an increase of 30.2% from the corresponding period the previous year.
A substantial portion of this was driven by the considerable contribution from sales of individual pensions, which increased from GBP810 million APE in Q3 2005 to GBP1.3 billion APE in Q3 2006.
Personal pensions also performed well, witnessing a 32.3% increase in new sales from GBP269 million in Q3 2005 to GBP356 million in Q3 2006.
These figures show the life and pensions industry in healthy shape. In particular, group personal pensions have increased year-on-year. Employers play an important role in pension provision, so this is a positive sign of continued employer engagement with pensions, commented Chris Kenny, the ABI’s director of life and pensions. We’re delighted by John Hutton’s comments at the ABI Saver Summit this week that Personal Accounts will be designed to extend, not replace, this provision.