Pru annuity sales 35% lower as Budget changes continue to bite

Individual annuity sales were 35% lower in the first quarter of the year, the life company said, costing it £36m. Prudential said this reflected the "overall downturn in the market though 2013 as policyholders have increasingly chosen to defer retirement". However the hit is also likely to have been caused by changes in the March Budget which mean that from 2015 all individuals aged 55 and over can access their entire pension fund as cash, removing the effective requirement to buy an annuity. On Wednesday Legal and General (L&G) reported that it saw its individual annuity sales dro...