Wesleyan recognised as top industry performer
Released 26/01/2011
ADVERTORIAL: 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.