Scottish Widows saw a significant growth in its pension business last year, with assets under administration growing by 17 per cent to £108bn in 2024.
These figures were released as part of Lloyds Banking Group’s full year results – which saw pre-tax profits at the parent group decline by almost £1.5bbn over the year.
However, the insurance pensions and investment division delivered more upbeat results with a 16 per cent increase in underlying profits for the year. This was partly boosted by the recent sale of its bulk annuities business.
Scottish Widows also disclosed that digital engagement was helping to grow its its workplace pensions business.
The pension provider now has more than 1m digitally registered customers, with over 400,000 on its relaunched app. It also saw a 9 per cent increase in regular contributions, which it said was due to better pension engagement.
Scottish Widows is now the UK’s second biggest DC workplace provider, and a top three individual annuities provider with annualised annuity payments of over £0.9bn.
Chira Barua, chief executive of Scottish Widows and Lloyds’ insurance, pensions and investment business says: “2024 was a year of innovation and growth for Scottish Widows.
“We’re harnessing the power of the broader Lloyds Banking Group to deliver great experience, products and services for our customers and the advisers who help them navigate their financial futures.
“We’ve delivered top three positions in workplace and individual annuities with robust plans to grow our intermediary wealth and protection market share. Underlying profit is up 16 per cent as we make rapid progress on our ambitious transformation program.”
