Royal London has seen its new business profits from intermediated protection increase by £2.7m in 2014, as the present value of new business premiums fell, full results have revealed.
However, new business premiums for protection from intermediaries in 2014 were worth £338m compared to £436m in 2013
European embedded value (EVV) profit from continuing operations before tax and profit share was £259m, down 53% on 2013.
The decline was attributed to an exceptional £150m gain from the acquisition of The Co-operative Insurance Society Limited (CIS) and The Co-operative Asset Management Limited reported in 2013.
Other reasons for the decline were the cost of a £61m charge related to the workplace pensions charge cap and the low yields on government bonds at the end of 2014.
EEV Operating profit before tax and exceptional items increased by 12% to £220m, attributed to strong new business figures and in particular to intermediary pensions and wealth business.
An increase in new life and pensions business on the present value of new business premiums were up 39% to £4826m, attributed to individual, group and drawdown pensions.
Both brands are set to disappear as Royal London combines all its business under a single Royal London branding.
Phil Loney, group chief executive of Royal London, said: "We are building our protection offering. The intermediary protection business is seeing a positive response to the improvements we made in the final quarter to both technology and improved critical illness definitions.
"Our consumer protection business has been growing significantly since it started marketing insurance products direct to consumers in Q4 2014. Our new Consumer division is now offering three new products.
"The Part VII Court decision at the end of 2014 concluded the legal transfer of the CIS life and pensions business. Full integration into Royal London is now very well advanced.
