- Industry survey shows Wesleyan With Profits bond top performer
- Financial strength continues to underpin market leading returns
Wesleyan Assurance Society, the Birmingham-based financial services specialist for doctors, dentists, teachers and lawyers, has received recognition in a leading industry survey for the performance of its 'With Profits' bond.
The bond was named top performer in a Money Management survey* published earlier this month, giving Wesleyan savers the best payouts on their investments and outperforming like-for-like products from larger rivals such as Legal & General, the Prudential, Friends Provident and LV=.
The survey looked at the 'cash in' value for a £10,000 initial investment over one to 10 years. The Wesleyan bond was the top performer over six of the nine year terms and top quartile for a further two terms. The survey revealed that the return on the Wesleyan bond over one year was an impressive 13.2% AGR (Annual Growth Rate) providing an additional investment of £1,321 after just 12 months**.
Wesleyan has also recently received a 'rock solid' 10 out of 10 rating for the sixth consecutive year in the independent survey, on the financial strength of with-profit offices, from Cazalet Consulting, and is the only life office to have achieved this. Cazalet commented: "Wesleyan continues to top the charts with regards to with profits financial strength, investment flexibility and underlying investment performance."
Craig Errington, Wesleyan's Chief Executive, said: "Wesleyan's financial strength is core to the success of our With Profits savings products. We are able to maintain a higher than average exposure to equities within the asset mix which, over the long term, offer higher returns to customers.
"Also, as a mutual, we have no shareholders to consider so we are able to pass profits directly to our customers.
"With the Bank of England base rate remaining at 0.5% and the economic recovery still far from secure, it's important that savers consider their investments carefully and shop around for the products that will yield the highest returns. Our With Profits bond is consistently a top performer and is popular with our professional customers who are looking for a safe and reliable product that will make their money work harder."
In November Wesleyan announced new business results for the nine months ending 30 September 2010, which showed:
- 19% increase in overall new business sales to £27.3m*** including:
- 51% increase in ISA and unit trust sales***
- 19% increase in life and saving products***
In addition to increasing sales in its own product range, the Society also saw a 57% increase in sales of third party products***.
* Results taken from Money Management magazine study published 01.01.2011 'With Profits bonds: latest results'. Results tracked cash in values to November 2010.
** Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
*** Annual Premium Equivalent - new annual premiums plus 10% of single premiums.