Royal London said on Thursday it produced a record quarter of new business results for the three months ended March 31, with new life and pensions business up 52% to £2.1 billion.

The UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company employs more than 1,000 in Scotland, including staff at the former Scottish Life business.

Royal London said new life and pensions business — on a present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) basis — was £2.093 billion compared to £1.379 billion in the same quarter last year.

It said group pensions rose 86% to £959 million, individual pensions increased 29% to £611 million, drawdown rose 19% to £291 million, protection intermediary rose 37% to £147 million and consumer new business sales increased by 179% to £67 million.

However, Royal London group chief executive Phil Loney said: “While new business growth remains robust I anticipate that group pensions will see a slowing of momentum in coming quarters.

“While we continue to bring on board large numbers of schemes, we anticipate that the average premium will be lower as more smaller employers enrol their workforces into a pension.”

Group funds under management rose to £87.9 billlion at March 31 from £84.5 billion at December 31.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) attracted new business with gross inflows of £1.1 billion, largely due to a significant increase in institutional new business with a number of new clients.

Loney said: “While our pension propositions have been leading the way for some time it is good to see that our protection proposition in the intermediary market is now finding strong levels of support from advisers.

“Our new consumer division which looks to bring real value to areas of the market where there has been little competition historically is now a significant source of new business in its own right.

“It focuses on simple products offering better value for money and fairer customer outcomes than our competitors. We continue to concentrate on a non-advised offering to customers who will not or do not utilise regulated financial advisers.”