Standard Life reported £1,233m of incremental new business long-term cash generation for 2022, comprising £934m from its retirement solutions business and £299m from its capital-light fee-based businesses.
Additionally, Standard Life reports £4.8bn of Bulk Purchase Annuity premiums, which generated a broadly stable level of incremental new business long-term cash generation.
Despite this, the company was able to invest 20% less capital, reducing capital strain further to 5.8% compared to the previous year’s figure of 6.5%.
The company’s Workplace pensions business also saw significant growth, with net fund flows of £2.4bn compared to £0.2bn in the previous year.
Incremental new business long-term cash generation increased by 53% to £212m compared to £139m the year before. Standard Life attributes this success to retaining existing clients, benefitting from new joiners to existing schemes, and increased member contributions.
Furthermore, Standard Life won 76 new Workplace schemes with an aggregate asset value of approximately £2bn, which will transfer over the next 12-24 months.
This reflects the ongoing investment in both the business and proposition, and Standard Life’s ability to support both modern auto-enrolment schemes and de-risking of older-style defined benefit pensions.
Finally, Standard Life has transitioned £15bn of assets and approximately 1.5 million members to its Sustainable Multi-Asset default fund as the company begins to decarbonize its investment portfolios at scale.
Standard Life CEO, Andy Curran, commented on the results, stating that the last twelve months have placed a real strain on many households, and more than ever, customers are looking to the company to understand the challenges they face.
He notes that despite these challenges, very few are cutting back on their pensions, and people continue to put money aside for the future. The company’s ability to support a number of growth markets positions it well for the future.
