Insurer Legal & General saw its revenues jump as it continues to move away from once-dominant individual annuity sales following government pension reforms.
It said net cash generation leapt by 14 per cent to £943 million in the first nine months of the year as the firm focused on company pension schemes.
The pensions and investment giant has moved into the bulk annuity market managing the pension fund risk of large firms, such as the £13 billion National Grid pension scheme, which it takes over later this month.
This comes after the individual annuity market slumped following Chancellor George Osborne's announcement in last April's Budget to allow pensioners to retire without having to buy an annuity, which provides a life-long income.
UK life insurers have had to find other income streams to replace individual annuities, which have roughly halved across the industry and were a staple product in the sector.
L&Gl said its annuity assets lifted eight per cent to £43.1bn in the period. But annuity sales slumped by almost 62 per cent to £1.5bn, although the period a year ago benefited from the inclusion of a £3bn ICI pension fund transaction.
It has also begun to sell lifetime mortgages, in which homeowners release money from their properties to fund their retirement. It said from a standing start it completed £102 million lifetime mortgage deals in the period.
In insurance, its UK protection premium rose three per cent to £1.1bn, although new business slipped 2.2 per cent to £174 million.
The insurance industry has this month been hit by an increase to insurance premium tax from six per cent to 9.5 per cent, which is added to premiums on all kinds of deals from pet insurance to medical cover.
L&G's latest trading update also showed its assets under management lifted eight per cent to £717bn, while net inflows amounted to £21.7bn, including business from the US, China, Korea and Taiwan.
Chief executive Nigel Wilson said: "Legal & General's scale and growing international business, coupled with strategic clarity and financial discipline, has driven a strong performance."
Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan said the insurer has issued "another strong third quarter interim management statement" with robust cash generation and "excellent" annuity asset growth.
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