Insurer Aviva notches record sales

Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer, released a report Tuesday showing record sales in the fourth quarter. Total sales, which included investment, were 22 percent higher at £31.1 million.

Life and pension sales drove the insurer’s business and were up 18 percent to £26.2 million. In the UK, life and pension sales under the Norwich Union brand, were 25 percent higher, to £11.5 million, keeping pace with its closest rivals.

Internationally, life and pension sales were 13 percent higher, to £14.7 million, better than the target of 10 percent. International sales, focused in Europe until the recent expansion into the US with the purchase of AmerUs, provides around half of the company’s profits. AmerUs sold £324 million in the six weeks following its acquisition by Aviva.

The bad news in the report came from France and the Netherlands/Belgium/Germany region. In France, sales grew by only 1 percent, while life and pensions sales fell by 14 percent in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Aviva’s business in France was hurt by reforms that favored banks with insurance divisions over insurers, while sales in the UK were aided by newly introduced rules that allow individuals to save more for their retirement.

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