The company’s results showed it had increased funds under management from £114bn on 31 December last year, to £117bn on 30 June.
The firm also announced increased half year EEV operating profits of £187m (+1%) and EEV pre-tax profit of £358m (+9%).
Other report highlights included:
- Increases in personal pension and life assurance new business sales largely offset reduced Group Pension sales resulting from the end of the auto-enrolment roll out
- Increased net flows across the group
- Solvency II Investor View solvency surplus of £5.4bn and a capital cover ratio of 225%
Off the back of the results the firm insisted it was “well placed to deliver its future financial goals.”
Royal London CEO Phil Loney said: “Sluggish economic growth and the ending of the auto-enrolment roll out provided a challenging backdrop for pensions and investment companies in the first half of 2018.
“I’m pleased to report that Royal London has consolidated its record 2017 trading position with EEV pre-tax profit up 9% to £358m, reflecting an operating profit of £187m in the first six months of the year.”
Mr Loney also called in the Government to “put consumers first” and save the proposed pensions dashboard project.
He said: “The UK pensions system is highly fragmented and auto enrolment will add further to the number of people with pensions scattered across multiple schemes and providers.
“In many other countries citizens can see all of their pensions – state, workplace and private – all in one place, and there is no reason why UK citizens should not be able to do so.
“The industry has already shown its commitment by spending time and money preparing a prototype dashboard.
“We need Government to take a lead, both in ensuring that state and public sector pension data is available and also in requiring all pension schemes and providers to supply data.
“Only the Government can do this.”
He added: “It is time to put the consumer first and press ahead with the dashboard project and we stand ready to work with the Government to drive this project forward.”