Royal London with-profits fund returns drop 65%

The UK mutual life and pensions firm today says the fund returned 3.9% in 2007, a fall from the 11% recorded in 2006. It adds annualised returns on its £50 a month 25-year with-profits endowment maturing on 1 January, 2008 totalled 8.4%, representing a real return of 4.9% a year over inflation. The company increased the bonus rates on some of its life and pensions policies but kept those across its with-profits policies static. In Februrary, Royal London announced it had seen a 1% drop in life and pensions new business in 2007. It attributed the fall to a downturn in the mortgage ma...