Nordea’s life and pensions business grew by 11% in the first three months of this year from the previous quarter as the Nordic and Baltic banking group reported high levels of sales for unit-link products via its banking network.
Gross written premiums in the Life & Pensions division rose to €2.06bn in the first quarter, up 11% from the fourth quarter 2013 and up 16% from the first quarter of 2013, the banking group said in its interim report.
Nordea said: “The strong sales are primarily driven by solid sales momentum for market-return products in the Nordea Bank channel.”
In the January-to-March period this year, unit-link products accounted for 87% of total gross written premiums, a 5 percentage point increase from the same quarter in 2013.
Assets in unit-link products continued to grow in the reporting period compared with the same period a year before.
At the end of March, their share of total assets under management had risen by 4 percentage points.
“As a result of the continuously increasing share of capital-light products in relation to total AUM, the Solvency I ratio increased by 7 percentage points in the first quarter, ending at 180,” Nordea said.
Operating profit for the life and pensions business fell 1% from the fourth quarter 2013 to the first quarter of this year to €68m, it said, attributing the fall to seasonal effects.
Compared with the first quarter of 2013, however, operating profit was 10% higher in the latest reporting period.
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