UK & Ireland Life sales are up 2%, and net flows into the wealth business remained strong at £2.7bn, despite market volatility, Aviva said in its Q1 trading update on 18 May. 

The international financial services provider reported UK&I Life sales of £8.4bn, up 2% (Q121: £8.3bn) with growth in Annuities & Equity Release and Protection & Health partly offset by Wealth.

Total BPA sales in Q1 were £843m, up 29%, with a healthy pipeline weighted towards the second half of the year.

UK&I Life value of new business (VNB) was £144m, up 31%, and VNB margin of 1.7% (Q121: 1.3%), driven by Annuities & Equity Release VNB of £31m (Q121: £nil).

General Insurance gross written premiums (GWP) were up 5% in Q1 to £2.1bn, another record. UK&I GI GWP up 3% to £1,347m and Canadian GI GWP up 10% to £753m.

GI combined ratio (COR) was 96.4% (Q121: 90.6%) reflecting £70m cost for the February storms in UK GI and more normal motor claims frequency.

Amanda Blanc, group chief executive said: "First quarter trading was positive, and our performance shows the clear benefit of Aviva's business mix across insurance, wealth and retirement. 

"We delivered healthy sales numbers across all our major business lines, with UK customer numbers up by over 100,000 in the last year to 15.4m, increasing our confidence that we can transform Aviva's performance and grow.

She continued: "UK & Ireland Life sales are up 2%, and net flows into our Wealth business remained strong at £2.7 billion, despite market volatility. Our Advisor platform is now the number one in the market for net flows, and in Annuities and Equity Release we saw increased bulk purchase annuities volumes, written with good returns.

"We have also continued our momentum in General Insurance where we had our best first quarter sales in a decade, as more people were attracted to the strength of the Aviva brand and the quality of our products. Total General Insurance sales were up 5% to over £2 billion, driven by strong sales in commercial lines in both the UK and Canada.

Blanc further said: "We remain very well positioned to benefit from the long term growth trends in our markets, and to meet our upgraded financial targets. This is underpinned by our strong capital position which benefits from rising interest rates. 

"Our financial strength and market leadership give us confidence that we can successfully navigate the current uncertain economic conditions."

Aviva's insurance, wealth & retirement business operates across its core markets of the UK, Ireland and Canada. It also has international investments in Singapore, China and India.

In 2021, Aviva announced its plan to become a Net Zero carbon emissions company by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. This plan means Net Zero carbon emissions from its investments by 2040; setting out a clear pathway to get there with a cut of 25% in the carbon intensity of its investments by 2025 and of 60% by 2030; and Net Zero carbon emissions from its own operations and supply chain by 2030.