Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC), the specialist insurer of UK defined benefit pension schemes, has seen an “excellent first half of the year” with an adjusted operating profit (AOPBT) of £506 million and new business premiums of £6.5 billion.
According to the Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited, the ultimate parent company of PIC, the increase in AOPBT – which compares to £152 million reported in H1 2022 – was driven by higher new business profits and expected returns on surplus assets – Inaugural dividend of 7.5 pence per ordinary share paid to PICG shareholders.
Compared to H1 2022 when PIC saw £2.4 billion in new business premiums, this year’s figure is a significant increase, which primarily includes the record buy-in of two schemes sponsored by RSA Group.
Additionally, in H1 2023 PIC saw record pension payments of £1.1 billion, with customer satisfaction score of 99.3%; and record number of pensions insured, at 339,900 (FY2022: 302,200).
The firm also reported a strong capital position with solvency ratio of 210% for FY2023, which compares to 226% of FY2022. PIC’s portfolio is at £44.9 billion for the first half of the year, compared to the £41.2 billions the same period last year, with insurance liabilities of £38.7 billion, compared to FY2022’s of £33.7 billion.
Tracy Blackwell, Chief Executive Officer of PIC, said: “I am pleased to report that PIC had an excellent first half of the year. We completed the largest ever bulk annuity transaction, as well as paying more than £1 billion of pension payments, our highest ever six-monthly figure, on which we had a customer satisfaction rating of 99.3%.
“We created significant social value through our purposeful investment strategy, investing more than £1 billion in infrastructure assets during the six-month period. This includes funding the UK’s first reservoir for more than 30 years and completing our second investment to support the UK’s Government Property Agency, investing £268 million in their Croydon hub. We are delighted that our private rental sector development at Manchester New Victoria has now welcomed its first tenants.
“With a solvency ratio of 210%, the strength of our balance sheet will serve us well as increasing numbers of well-funded defined benefit schemes seek the security of the insurance regulatory framework.”
