Annuity sales surpass record levels in first half of 2023

The firm's half-year financial results found that sales of annuities had surged by 100%, with new business sales for individual annuities totalling £441m, compared to £220m in the first half of 2022. It also reported that May was a record-breaking month, with £100m of annuities sold, which represented the highest number of annuities sold in one month since the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015. Canada Life attributed the record number of annuities sold to the significant rise in annuity rates seen over the course of the year, against a "backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty" wh...