Aegon UK is planning to invest an average of £70m-£80m per year from 2024 to 2027 to future-proof and enhance its platform, it was announced yesterday (June 25).
The investment was unveiled during a London-based webinar, led by Aegon CEO Lard Friese and Aegon UK CEO Mike Holliday-Williams, which outlined plans to accelerate the transformation of Aegon UK into a premier digital savings and retirement platform.
Overall, Aegon UK aims to grow the combined assets under administration (AuA) of its three franchises to over £135bn by 2028 and increase its operating capital generation by around 12% annually, from a base of approximately £120m in 2024.
Speaking to Money Marketing, Holliday-Williams said: “Committing £70m-£80m per annum will help us become the best platform in the UK for savings and retirement, and future-proof the business by moving to the cloud, simplifying technology and increasing automation and digitalisation.
“We’re excited about this significant investment, which will allow us to continue our journey.”
Aegon UK operates through three primary growth franchises: the workplace platform; the adviser platform; and the advice franchise. Collectively, these serve approximately 2.5 million customers, managing £104bn in AuA as of the end of 2023.
The company also oversees a portfolio of traditional pension and annuities products for 1.3 million customers, and a trading and custody platform for institutional clients.
The workplace platform, which provides retirement solutions for large and medium-sized employers, is already among the top three in market position for new business acquisitions.
Aegon plans to enhance the digitalisation and automation of this platform, improve retirement propositions and personalise the customer experience. This is projected to boost net flows to over £5bn annually by 2028, increasing AuA from £53bn in 2023 to over £85bn by 2028.
For the adviser platform, which offers long-term savings and investment solutions, Aegon UK will concentrate on the 500 adviser firms that generate about 70% of its gross flows. The company aims to enhance its proposition, streamline technology and increase automation to improve online customer and adviser journeys.
The goal is to achieve positive net flows by 2028, with AuA expected to stay above £50bn.
The advice franchise, providing financial planning and advice to workplace platform customers and corporate partners, including Nationwide, is poised to drive net flows into the adviser platform.
By integrating the advice proposition into customer journeys, Aegon UK plans to strengthen its relationships with workplace customers, reach new segments, integrate its businesses further and reduce costs.
Commenting on this strategy, Holliday-Williams said: “We have about three million workplace customers, with 1.2 million aged 45 to 65. We’re focusing on offering advice to them, targeting customers who can benefit and integrating them into our workplace proposition.
“Our goal is to better educate, guide and advise customers, making advice more relevant and accessible.”
In March this year, Aegon announced an overall UK profit of £186m in 2023, with a total of £203bn assets under management.
In May, it launched a new CPD Hub, an online platform designed to help financial advisers navigate the evolving regulatory landscape.
