Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) completed £4.1bn of new business premiums in 2022, including bulk annuity transactions with the IMI pension fund and British American Tobacco UK Pension Fund, according to its annual report.

This is down by £0.6bn compared to the £4.7bn of new business premiums recorded in FY 2021.

The insurer also announced it completed a record £6.5bn buy-in with two schemes sponsored by RSA in early 2023.

To date, PIC has completed 75 repeat transactions with trustee clients, covering £15bn of liabilities across more than 90,000 scheme members.

During the year, the insurer invested £2.1bn in privately sourced debt, and made £11.4bn of UK direct investments to date.

At the end of 2022, 302,200 pension scheme members were insured with PIC, up from 282,900 at the end of 2021.

PIC paid £1.76bn of pensions during the year, with £10.6bn being paid out since 2013.

Meanwhile, its solvency ratio rose to 225 per cent, up from 168 per cent in the 2021 financial year.

PIC’s adjusted operating profit was £388m, down from £533m in FY 2021.

Its portfolio of investments fell from £51.1bn in FY 2021 to £41bn at the end of 2022, while its gross insurance liabilities also fell during the same period, from £47bn to £33bn.

The insurer primarily attributed these reductions to the higher interest rate environment.

“PIC had a strong year and our focus on our purpose of paying the pensions of our current and future policyholders ensured that we ended the year with an increasing presence across the country, creating considerable social value,” commented PIC CEO, Tracy Blackwell.

“As a result of our robust year end solvency ratio of 225 per cent we are ideally placed to help trustees secure their members’ benefits.

“Our long-term approach to relationships underpins a significant amount of new business and investment opportunity.

“In total, we have now completed 75 repeat transactions with trustee clients, covering £15bn of liabilities, and the benefits of over 90,000 scheme members, including two significant transactions in the year.

“On the asset side of the balance sheet, over 20 per cent of our privately-sourced debt investments were with our existing partners during 2022.

“Finally, it’s pleasing that as a result of the strength of the balance sheet and many years of hard work, the board proposed an inaugural dividend of 7.5 pence per ordinary share to the group’s shareholders. I look forward to a successful 2023.”

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