Royal London to share £181m of profits with customers
Royal London’s profits soared last year and it’s planning to hand some of this back to customers.
Pre-tax profit at the firm grew 11 per cent to £277m, compared to £249m in 2023, after the group bolstered new businesses and consolidated its consumer book.
The group announced a profit share of £181m in its annual results, which will be shared between 2.3m eligible customers in April 2025.
, group chief executive, said: “Royal London is customer-owned and is run for the benefit of customers, not shareholders.
“We share our profits with eligible customers and our ProfitShare scheme will distribute £181m to 2.3m customers in April.”
Its flagship fund offering, The Governed Range, maintained £3.2bn in net inflows, the same figure as 2023.
Assets under management spiked by over £10bn, hitting £72bn.
Tech restructure boosted new schemes
The group said it had introduced digital improvements to enhance customers’ financial resilience, which included a contribution guidance tool and developments to its pension consolidation service.
It said the restructured technology helped drive a 39 per cent increase in Workplace Pension transfers.
Royal London added 966 new Workplace Pension Schemes in 2024, up from 930 in 2023, with new business sales of Workplace Pensions up by 19 per cent.
The firm said this reflected the increasing number of medium and large-sized employer scheme wins.
Transfers to the group’s fund for future aspirations had a sluggish year falling to £167m, over half of £382m in 2024, however, it said the figure includes “the impact of positive economic movements and is stated after the allocation of ProfitShare”.
The company’s Irish arm grew 29 per cent in new business sales of Protection and Pension Products, pocketing up to £297m.
O’Dwyer added: “Our customer-first approach also appeals to employers wanting to pick the best possible offering and, in 2024, nearly 1,000 employers chose to establish a Royal London Workplace Pension scheme, very often moving from a shareholder-owned competitor.
“2024 also saw Royal London enter the bulk purchase annuity market, giving trustees the option of choosing the only customer-owned provider in this market.”