- Payouts will go to eligible customers with pensions and life policies
More than 2million Royal London customers will receive a slice of a £181million profit share payout.
The payouts will be dished out in April to eligible customers who have pensions and life policies with Royal London.
In 2023, the firm’s ProfitShare scheme payout for eligible customers totalled £163million.
Royal London enjoyed buoyed profits in 2024 and saw nearly 1,000 employers set up a Royal London workplace pension scheme, drawing in 240,000 new scheme members.
In 2024, the mutual insurer and investment company’s operating pre-tax profit jumped 11 per cent to £277million, up from £249million the previous year.
On Friday, the firm said its bottom line was strengthened by ‘increased new business contribution across all our main product lines and a growing book of in-force business.’
More than 2million Royal London customers are on track to receive part of an £181m payout
Royal London said its ‘governed range’ fund offering attracted net inflows of £3.2billion last year, the same level seen in 2023.
Assets under management reached £72billion, up from £61billion the previous year.
The group said it paid 98.7 per cent of protection claims, delivering £751million to more 65,000 customers in the UK and Ireland.
However, this was down on 2023, when the percentage of protection claims paid was 99 per cent.
Barry O’Dwyer, Royal London’s 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 £181million to 2.3million customers in April.
‘This was underpinned by the business delivering an 11 per cent increase in operating profit to £277million in 2024.’
He added: ‘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.’
Last year, O’Dwyer warned that ploughing savers’ money into British infrastructure and private equity risked undermining the primary role of pensions.
In August, he said he was ‘nervous’ about Labour’s proposal to shake-up the pensions industry.
The Pension Schemes Bill, Labour claims, is aimed at boosting returns for millions of retired people by encouraging schemes to put more money into British infrastructure and private companies.
‘I do get slightly nervous about someone else dictating how money is invested,’ O’Dwyer said last year.
He added: ‘With an estimated £3trillion in UK pensions, it is understandable pensions are viewed as able to play a powerful role in supporting UK economic growth.
‘However, the primary role of pensions is to fund customers’ retirement.’
Royal London did not sign up to the previous government’s Mansion House Compact, a commitment to allocate at least 5 per cent of default pensions pots into unlisted shares by 2030.
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