Legal & General says it remains in strong health despite the market volatility that has rocked the Liability Driven Investment (LDI) sector and led to emergency Gilt purchases by the Bank of England .
In a market update the insure says says its solvency coverage ratio has increased, standing at between 235-240% as at 30 September 2022, up at least 23 percentage points from HY 2022 when it stood at 212%. It say sthis principally reflecting the contribution from higher interest rates and strong ongoing operational surplus generation, and after paying the 2022 interim dividend.
In the market update L&G says: ‘”Recent extraordinary increases in interest rates, and the unprecedented speed of those increases, have caused challenges for the pension fund clients and counterparties of LGIM’s UK LDI (Liability Driven Investment) business.
“These [the BoE’s] steps have helped to alleviate the pressure on our clients. We are continuing to work closely with them to achieve appropriate hedging levels in their portfolios. LGIM acts as an agent between our LDI clients and market counterparties and therefore has no balance sheet exposure.”
L&G says the group’s annuity portfolio continues to perform well and demand for global PRT is accelerating. It says despite volatile markets, the group’s annuity portfolio has not experienced any difficulty in meeting collateral calls and it has not been forced sellers of gilts or bonds.
The insurer says: “Demand for global pension risk transfer (PRT) continues to increase, with funding deficits reducing because of rising interest rates and widening credit spreads. LGRI (Legal & General Retirement Institutional) has transacted or is in exclusive negotiations with a further £1.3bn of PRT since H1, including two transactions signed last week, taking the total written year to date to £5.8bn. The global pipeline for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 is the busiest we have ever seen, and we are on track to deliver another strong result this year.
“Volumes continue to be written at margins and capital strain in line with our long-term average, and we expect the UK annuity portfolio to be self-sustaining again in 2022.
Sir Nigel Wilson, group chief executive, Legal & General says: “Our businesses are resilient, and we are on track to deliver good growth in key financial metrics for FY 2022. Rising interest rates are having a positive impact on demand for PRT, and on our EPS and solvency coverage ratio. Our balance sheet and liquidity position remain strong, and our businesses are highly cash generative. We continue to work closely with our customers to support them through this period of increased market volatility.”