Royal London

A near-25% rise in UK protection sales helped drive an increase in profits for the Royal London group in 2012.

Royal London has announced annual bonuses for 2012 and final bonuses for 2013 for with-profits policies in the Royal London Long Term Fund and in the closed Scottish Life Fund.

Royal London has agreed to buy the Co-operative Banking group's life insurance and asset management businesses in a deal worth up to £219m.

Royal London's pensions arm, Scottish Life, has added six additional funds to its core investment fund range.

Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) has added Royal London to its restricted range.

Henderson non-executive chairman Rupert Pennant-Rea is to stand down in May 2013 to take a similar role at Royal London Group.

Royal London has agreed to change the terms used in its Scottish Life branded unit linked consumer contracts after the Financial Services Authority (FSA) found they may have been unfair.

Stephen Shone, finance director at Royal London, is to step down from the role and be replaced by Kerr Luscombe.

Assets on Royal London's wrap platform Ascentric grew 42% to £4.7bn in the nine months to 30 September, with new inflows dropping 18% to £856m, according to latest figures.

Royal London's consumer website MoneyVista is in talks with networks to give block access to its services to help advisers better access the mass-market after the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).