Annuity gross sales bounce on excessive rates of interest

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Spiking annuity charges have led to a surge in gross sales for insurers, as UK savers search assured incomes to climate unsure financial situations.

Canada Life reported annuity gross sales doubling to £441mn within the first half of the yr, in contrast with the identical interval in 2022. Simply Group noticed gross sales leap by 54 per cent to £470mn and Authorized & Normal reported a 27 per cent rise to £575mn.

These gross sales figures embody each lifetime annuities and fixed-term merchandise, giving an revenue for a set interval equivalent to 10 years.

For lifetime annuities, the majority of the market, the Affiliation of British Insurers, a commerce physique, stories that some £2.3bn had been offered within the first half 2023, up from £1.7bn in the identical interval final yr.

The rise in demand has been triggered by the speedy rise in rates of interest, which has seen the perfect fee in the marketplace soar from 5 per cent in August 2021 to 7.3 per cent this month for somebody taking out an annuity aged 65, in response to platform Hargreaves Lansdown.

Savers have additionally been drawn to the safety of an annuity revenue at a time when investments in shares and bonds, the mainstays of most retirement portfolios, have been battered by issues about excessive inflation and unsure funding returns.

“Volatility out there and certainty that annuities present are altering mindsets,” stated Lorna Shah, managing director of retail at Authorized & Normal. “Individuals are shifting away from a as soon as and accomplished binary choice on whether or not you’ve got an annuity or drawdown.”

The comeback in annuities follows a collection of economic reforms that inspired savers to look elsewhere.

The introduction of pension freedoms in 2015 damped demand for the product, as older savers had been now not compelled to buy an annuity with their pension. As an alternative, they had been in a position to maintain their pot invested whereas taking an everyday revenue.

A median of 70,914 annuities have been bought out there every monetary yr between 2015-16 and 2021-22, in response to the Monetary Conduct Authority. Gross sales initially declined however bounced again final yr.

“You may need needed to dwell 20 years to get your a refund. As charges improved, the maths works out higher,” stated Pete Matthew, chief government of Jacksons Wealth Administration. He stated annuities had been useful in securing shoppers a minimal revenue, enabling them to take extra threat with the rest of their pot.

Knowledge from the ABI exhibits that the variety of suppliers out there on the open market fell from 14 in 2013 to 6 initially of this yr. Customary Life is now within the strategy of re-entering the market.

Tim Pike on the Pension Coverage Institute, a think-tank, stated market consolidation had beforehand contributed to extra individuals opting to enter drawdown as a result of restricted shopper selection. He stated shoppers had been now extra attuned to fee variations, however merchandise would want to evolve to fulfill the wants of savers retiring with out a outlined profit pot.

Matthew argued that annuities had been nonetheless much less interesting for these with massive pension pots as they might nonetheless draw a good revenue regardless of market dips, whereas others had been postpone by the upfront price and the truth that an annuity typically died with the holder or their partner.

Suppliers maintained that the product would proceed to draw retirees regardless of the likelihood that charges will begin to fall subsequent yr.

Shah added: “Sooner or later, annuity charges will begin to come again down, however at ranges increased than the lows now we have seen in recent times . . . The understanding it offers to retirees is de facto necessary.”