Aviva today (14 November) reported general insurance premiums up 15% and wealth net flows of £7.7bn 21% higher in a positive Q3 update citing strong delivery and profitable growth a robust and resilient capital position and confidence in achieving the group’s financial targets.
Amanda Blanc (pictured), group chief executive officer, said: “Our third quarter performance has been very strong. Trading continues to be extremely positive right across the business, underlining the strength of our consistent strategy and the significant benefits of Aviva’s scale and diversification.
“Quarter after quarter, we are delivering consistently superior results and growing Aviva, particularly in the capital-light businesses. General insurance premiums are up 15%, and wealth net flows of £7.7bn are 21% higher reflecting continued growth in workplace pensions and strong demand from our financial adviser platform business. The bulk purchase annuity market remains very active and we have increased volumes, at good margins and disciplined capital usage, to £6.1bn.
“Aviva’s large and growing customer base is a major advantage, contributing to our excellent performance. Over the last four years we have increased customer numbers by 1.2m to 19.6m. We now have five million UK customers with more than one policy and, as the UK’s leading diversified insurer, the potential to grow this further is huge.
“Aviva is financially strong, trading well each quarter and has significant opportunities for further growth. We are confident about the outlook for the rest of 2024 and beyond, growing the dividend and achieving the Group’s financial targets.”
Further highlights include:
• General Insurance premiums up 15% to £9.1bn (9M23: £8.0bn).
• UK&I GI premiums up 18% to £5.7bn (9M23: £4.9bn) with 25% growth in personal lines and 11% growth in commercial lines, both balanced between continued strong new business and pricing actions to offset the inflationary environment.
• Canada GI premiums up 11% to £3.4bn (9M23: £3.2bn) with personal lines up 13% driven by pricing actions and strong new business growth. Commercial lines grew 8%.
• Group undiscounted combined operating ratio (COR) of 96.8% (9M23: 96.3%). The underlying COR improvement as pricing
actions taken continue to earn through was offset by elevated natural catastrophe events (‘CATs’) in Canada. Discounted COR of 92.8% (9M23: 92.5%).
• Protection sales were up 44% following the completion of the AIG UK protection (‘AIG’) acquisition in April and double-digit growth in Health in-force premiums
• Wealth net flows of £7.7bn (9M23: £6.4bn) were up 21%, or 6% of opening Assets Under Management (‘AUM’) reflecting strong growth in Adviser Platform and inflows in Succession Wealth and Direct Wealth.
• Retirement sales of £7.3bn (9M23: £4.4bn) were up 67% driven by higher BPA volumes of £6.1bn (9M23: £3.2bn). Retirement margin improved to 3.2% (9M23: 2.5%) as we maintain our disciplined focus on margins and capital allocation.
• Estimated Solvency II shareholder cover ratio remains robust at 195% (HY24: 205%).
