What we do
Our businesses work together to deliver our strategic purpose and generate value for our shareholders, customers and communities.
We aim to:
- Be a leading provider of retirement and protection solutions.
- Be one of the world’s largest asset managers.
- Be an innovative asset creator.
- Build a more sustainable society.
Areas of focus
We have delivered consistent and continuous growth for shareholders over the past decade and remain equally ambitious for the future
By taking a long-term approach to inclusive capitalism, our businesses work together to make a difference. We remain focused on the following areas:
Addressing climate change - We invest in technologies vital to fighting climate change, are a large-scale ESG investor and have set ourselves ambitious targets to reduce our carbon footprint.
Building a globally trusted brand - Continue to use our expertise in execution and delivery to increase the power of our brand.
Accelerating our expansion into Europe and Asia - Replicate our highly synergistic UK business model in the US.
Investing in the real economy - We create the assets that society needs, helping level up towns and cities in the UK and increasingly in the US, improving productivity and creating real jobs.
Market opportunities
Our strategic priorities are set to deliver sustainable profits as well as positive social and environmental outcomes. Environmental, social and governance issues are central to inclusive capitalism and are inherent to all six growth drivers.
Ageing demographics
The world population’s average life expectancy is projected to reach 77 years by 2050 whilst the working-age population declines. We participate in the global PRT market, focusing on corporate DB pension plans in the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands, which together have more than £6 trillion of pension liabilities. It is anticipated that there will be £200 billion of UK PRT demand over the next three years.
Welfare reforms
Fiscal pressures, inflation and an ageing population are placing the state pension and social security system under strain. This in turn increases the need for individuals to build and maintain their own financial wellbeing. UK DC assets are expected to grow from c.£600 billion to £1.2 trillion by 2031, with a growing need for pension decumulation solutions.
Globalisation of asset markets
As global assets under management are projected to increase from more than $112 trillion in 2021 to $149 trillion by 2026, we will continue to innovate in the US retirement income market, expand into European wholesale asset management and increase our presence in Asia Pacific.
Technological innovation
The individual term market is expected to increase to $30 billion in the US over the next three to five years. We anticipate continued premium growth across our UK and US protection businesses as technological innovation makes our products more accessible to customers and digital transformation creates competitive advantage in the US marketplace, while enabling further product and pricing enhancements.
Investing in the real economy
The UK’s ambitious ‘levelling up’ programme includes leveraging private sector institutional capital to support regeneration of the built environment and business growth. By 2030, public investment in research and development (R&D) outside the south east will increase by at least 40%. Opportunities to add to and improve the UK’s housing stock, create science parks, and invest in start-up and scale-up companies will be supported by regulatory reform enabling better deployment of pension funds to these growth areas.
Addressing climate change
As global finance supports the changes our planet needs to address climate change, this creates an important shift in investment allocation and the biggest investment opportunity of our lifetimes. Our hope is that, despite the short-term uncertainty, world events during 2022 focused leaders globally on the need to secure reliable and diverse sources of energy, driving greater investment in renewable energy supply for the longer term.