Don’t force pension funds to buy British, Aviva chief warns ministers

Thursday 15 Might 2025 5:23 pm
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Thursday 15 Might 2025 5:24 pm

British pension funds shouldn’t be compelled to spend money on UK property, the boss of one in every of London’s greatest insurance coverage companies has mentioned, in a rebuke of the federal government’s pension reforms plans.

The Treasury this week helped seal a voluntary, non-binding settlement by pension funds, dubbed the Mansion Home Accord, will see elevated funding into main infrastructure tasks in addition to larger enterprise capital funding into fast-growing startups, in a transfer which Downing Road hopes will create jobs and drive financial development.

Dame Amanda Blanc mentioned she didn’t consider a authorities order was “the appropriate factor” or “a crucial technique as a result of we do assume that pension suppliers are already prepared to spend money on the UK and are already, as we’ve got confirmed, doing so”.

Blanc mentioned the federal government would wish to contemplate the “unintended penalties” and that there was a “chain of people that want to vary behaviour”, not simply pension funds. These included worker profit consultants, staff and employees.

“It’s like a sledgehammer to crack a nut. You’ve to have the ability to get everyone onboard to do the appropriate factor.”

Aviva’s insurance coverage arm will get larger

Within the first quarter of 2025, Aviva’s normal insurance coverage premiums elevated by 9 per cent to £2.9bn, whereas retirement gross sales elevated 4 per cent to £1.8bn.

Safety and well being gross sales expanded quickly, leaping 19 per cent to £126m as customers turned to personal medical insurance amid prolonged NHS ready lists.

In the meantime, buyers withdrew £906m from the agency’s funding arm all through the quarter, although this was half of the £1.8bn pulled through the first quarter of 2024.

Aviva credited the outflows to withdrawals from shoppers pulling out of inner property (which misplaced £470m) and strategic outflows from shoppers “beforehand a part of the group”.

Regardless of the withdrawals, property below administration within the funding arm grew by one per cent to £240bn due to the impression of market actions and powerful flows into the agency’s liquidity methods.