Standard Life profits up
British insurer Standard Life said today its half-year profit rose by a forecast-beating 15 per cent thanks to cost cuts and strong growth in Britain.
Edinburgh-based Standard Life, Britain’s fifth-biggest insurer, made an operating profit of £302m in the first six months of 2012, surpassing the £254m expected by analysts in a poll.
The improvement was driven by Standard Life’s British business, where profit jumped 62 per cent as sales of self-invested personal pensions rose by a fifth and more customers signed up to the insurer’s online investment platforms.
Standard Life also benefited from an 18 per cent drop in set-up costs associated with writing new life insurance business.
That offset a 30 per cent decline in profit at its Canadian unit, blamed on lower sales of corporate saving and retirement products.
Standard Life, which has been investing in new products and technology to prepare for regulatory changes that will ban insurers from paying commission to middlemen, said it was on course to keep growing despite a “challenging” environment.