Aviva is positioning wealth, particularly its adviser platform and workplace pensions business, as a key driver of future growth after reporting strong inflows and rising assets under management.
The insurer delivered a sharp rise in profits and hit key 2026 targets a year ahead of schedule, helped by the integration of Direct Line Group last year.
Speaking to Money Marketing, Doug Brown, chief executive of insurance, wealth and retirement at Aviva, said the firm’s wealth division had delivered record net inflows and continued growth across both workplace pensions and the adviser platform.
“We had record net flows of almost £11bn and grew our assets under management by 18% to £234bn,” Brown said.
He added that the key engines of that growth were Aviva’s workplace pensions operation and its adviser platform.
In the workplace segment, Aviva secured 544 new scheme wins, its highest number on record, and now serves around five million workplace pension customers, with roughly £153bn in pension assets.
Brown said the firm was “very well placed” in the market as employers continue to expand pension provision and employees accumulate retirement savings through workplace schemes.
Aviva’s adviser platform also continues to attract strong inflows and new clients, with customer numbers rising 11% to around 440,000.
The insurer launched an onshore bond on the platform last year and has introduced additional tools aimed at supporting advisers, including improved reporting capabilities and features designed to help with intergenerational planning.
Brown said Aviva would continue investing in platform functionality to make it easier for advisers to manage client portfolios and transitions.
“We know in this market you need to keep investing,” he said.
“Our goal is to simplify things for advisers, so we will continue to invest in the platform moving forward.”
Among the areas of focus are tools to help advisers manage asset transitions and new features designed to respond to inheritance tax changes and evolving planning needs.
Aviva is also seeing renewed momentum in retirement income products.
Brown said the insurer recorded its best year for individual annuity sales since the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015, with volumes rising 19% to £1.6bn.
The firm has launched a guaranteed fixed-term income plan and introduced a “flex-first, fix-later” guided retirement proposition in the workplace market, combining drawdown with annuity options.
“We think annuities have a role to play in decumulation,” Brown said.
In the protection market, Brown said sales were broadly in line with expectations following the integration of the former AIG Life Limited business.
The consolidation of overlapping propositions has temporarily weighed on new sales, but Brown said Aviva’s market share and performance were “exactly where we expected them to be”.
He also pointed to the UK’s protection gap as a key long-term opportunity for the industry.
“The best thing we can do is help grow the market because a lot of people are not provisioning the protection they require,” he said.
Looking ahead, Brown said Aviva remains optimistic about the long-term prospects for wealth management in the UK.
The UK wealth market currently stands at around £2.4tn and could grow to £4tn in the coming years, he noted.
“With our workplace business, adviser platform, direct wealth offering and advice business, we believe we are very well positioned,” Brown said.
“We still see significant room for growth across many of the markets we operate in.”
