LV= has targeted white-label deals for its robo-advice proposition after the pension freedoms boosted the life company’s profits to £124 million.
Drawdown sales boosted LV=’s profit before tax to £124 million in 2015, 235% higher than in 2014 when it posted a profit before tax of £37 million.
LV= was particularly boosted by an improvement in its life business, which increased its operating profit from a £7 million loss in 2014 to a £41 million profit in 2015.
This was driven by an increase in new business sales from pension products to £1.6 billion. In 2014 it posted £1.3 billion in new retirement business.
The value of new protection business sales also increased from £217 million in 2014 to £272 million in 2015.
Mike Rogers (pictured), chief executive of LV=, said the life business was boosted by pension reforms as more customers bought drawdown products.
‘The impact of government pensions’ reforms continues to be felt in the retirement market where we’ve seen a marked change in buying behaviour with more pensions savers shopping around for retirement income solutions,’ he said.
‘New business volumes have grown significantly and we continue to develop new products and services to position LV= at the forefront of the changing pensions environment.’
LV= also launched robo-advice proposition Retirement Wizard in 2015. This was built alongside Wealth Wizards, the robo-advice company it owns a stake in.
The life company said it wanted to sign white-label deals with other organisations and firms in 2016 to access a larger market with its robo-advice.
‘We are seeing a significant rise in interest for automated advice from a range of organisations seeking to white label this technology and we expect to announce a number of partnerships in 2016,’ it said.
Source: New Model Adviser