LEGAL & GENERAL GRP

Overview

Legal & General Group plc is a diversified financial services group whose core activities are retirement solutions, protection and asset management. It aims to be a leader in retirement and protection solutions and a leading global asset manager across public and private markets, with its main businesses spanning Institutional Retirement, Asset Management, and Retail and Insurance activities that serve pension schemes and individual customers’ savings, retirement and protection needs.[1]+3 Its stated purpose is “Investing for the long term. Our futures depend on it.” [5][6]

The group is particularly defined by retirement income, pension risk transfer, workplace savings, protection products and large-scale investment management, with pension risk transfer operations highlighted in the UK, US and Canada.[7][8] Its workforce is based in the UK, the US, and other countries and jurisdictions across Europe and Asia, and it lists offices in locations including London, Chicago, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Amsterdam, Dublin, Zurich, Frankfurt, Milan and Stockholm.[9][10] As general indicators of scale, Legal & General reported total group revenue of £12.689 billion in 2024 and an average worldwide headcount of 11,876 employees.[11]+2 [1]+12

Products & services

Legal & General’s retirement and insurance product set includes Pension Risk Transfer, which is its bulk annuity offering for company pension schemes and life funds; these contracts provide guaranteed income and include both immediate and deferred annuities, alongside longevity insurance and Assured Payment Policies that pay a fixed and/or inflation-linked stream to UK pension schemes in return for a day-one premium.[14]+2 For retail customers, Legal & General sells individual annuities, including immediate annuities and fixed-term annuities that exchange a lump sum for guaranteed income over a chosen period and may include a maturity lump sum and surrender options; retail annuity volumes topped £2 billion in 2024.[17][18] It also offers the Lifetime Care Plan, which pays a monthly amount to a UK-registered care provider for the policyholder’s life, with fixed or escalating payments and a limited early-death benefit.[19]

Savings and lending products include workplace savings for corporate pension schemes, where Legal & General acts as scheme operator and administrator to support auto-enrolment, as well as direct-to-consumer Retail savings products in the form of a Personal Pension and a Stocks and Shares ISA.[20] The workplace platform supported 5.5 million members in 2024, and its commercial Mastertrust reached £30 billion.[21] In retirement lending, the group offers lifetime mortgages to borrowers aged over 55, secured on the main residence, with no required regular repayments, lump-sum or drawdown advance options, and a no-negative-equity guarantee; it also offers Retirement Interest-Only mortgages, where borrowers prove affordability of monthly interest while principal is typically repaid on death, entry into long-term care, or sale of the home.[22]+4 Its payment life term mortgage was enhanced with individualized pricing, higher loan-to-value availability and broader eligibility, and its mortgage services arm provides research and sourcing tools through the Ignite platform; that business transacted £111 billion of lending in 2024.[27][28]

Protection products span UK retail protection, UK group protection, US protection and US universal life.[29] UK protection policies cover mortality and morbidity risks, including health, disability, critical illness and accident benefits, with some sickness products linked to mortgage repayments and some contracts offering guaranteed premiums, guaranteed insurability and conversion options; named retail products include Critical Illness Cover and Children’s CI Extra.[30][31] Group protection includes health and wellbeing support and group income protection, while US protection is primarily individual term assurance with level premiums for an initial period and a conversion option into universal life; Legal & General also distributes this through an online quote-and-buy platform, where over 41% of applicants received an instant decision.[32]+2 In asset management, its core investment products are unit-linked institutional pensions, segregated investment management mandates and collective investment schemes, offered in active and passive formats on pooled or segregated bases, with additional capability in private markets and hybrid real-estate/REIT strategies.[35]+3 [14]+24

Geographic presence

Legal & General Group’s revenue is predominantly generated in the UK, with a meaningful secondary exposure to the US and only a small contribution from the rest of the world. In the reported geographic split by client location, 2024 total revenue was £10,370 million in the United Kingdom, £2,117 million in the USA, and £202 million in the Rest of World, for a total of £12,689 million; this implies roughly 81.7% of revenue from the UK, 16.7% from the US, and 1.6% from all other markets combined.[39][40]

The workforce is also concentrated in the UK. The monthly average number of staff employed during 2024 was 10,512 in the UK, 1,202 in the USA, 71 in Europe, and 91 in Other locations, for a worldwide average of 11,876 employees.[12]

Its office footprint spans the UK, continental Europe, North America, Asia and Bermuda. Locations shown include Edinburgh, Glasgow, Barnsley, Solihull, Cardiff, Bracknell, London and Hove in the UK; Dublin, Amsterdam, Zurich, Frankfurt, Milan and Stockholm in Europe; Chicago, Frederick and Stamford in the US; and Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bermuda internationally.[10] [39]+3

Business segments

Legal & General uses two closely related segment views. Under its 2024 IFRS 8 reporting, the official reportable segments are Institutional Retirement, Asset Management, Insurance, Retail Retirement and Corporate Investments, with prior-year disclosures restated from LGRI, LGC, LGIM, Insurance and Retail Retirement to match the new structure. In management discussion, Insurance and Retail Retirement are also grouped together as the Retail division, so the business may also be described externally as four buckets: Institutional Retirement, Asset Management, Retail and Corporate Investments.[41]+2

The segment focus areas are distinct. Institutional Retirement is centered on worldwide pension risk transfer, including bulk annuities, longevity insurance and assured payment policies. Asset Management is the combined investment management business spanning public markets and private markets origination, with products such as segregated mandates, collective funds and unit-linked institutional pensions. Insurance primarily covers UK group and retail protection plus US retail protection. Retail Retirement covers retail annuity and drawdown products, workplace savings and lifetime mortgage lending. Corporate Investments is a portfolio of non-strategic assets managed separately with the aim of maximizing shareholder value ahead of potential divestment.[44]+5

On 2024 adjusted operating profit of £1,711m, Institutional Retirement contributed £1,105m, or about 65%; Asset Management £401m, or about 23%; Insurance £188m, or about 11%; Retail Retirement £316m, or about 19%; and Corporate Investments £95m, or about 6%. There was also a central line of group debt costs and investment/project expenses of -£394m, about -23%, so the segment percentages only reconcile to 100% after including that central item. On the broader four-part management view, Retail (Insurance plus Retail Retirement) contributed about £504m, or roughly 29% of adjusted operating profit. The company also notes that assets and liabilities are not regularly reviewed by reportable segment and are therefore not separately disclosed on that basis.[48][49] [41]+9

Company history

Legal & General traces its origins to 1836, when it was founded as the New Law Life Assurance Society by six London lawyers. From its early years, the business linked insurance with long-term investment, and it says its first investments were in Britain’s early railways and real estate [50][51].

The present parent company, Legal & General Group plc, was incorporated on 27 February 1979 [52]. It went on to become one of the original constituents of the FTSE 100 when the index was launched in 1984, and its shares trade on the London Stock Exchange under LGEN [53][54].

A major later milestone came in 1987, when Legal & General completed its first bulk annuity transaction, establishing the business that became its pension risk transfer franchise [55][56]. More recently, the group broadened its housing and later-living activities in 2017 by acquiring full ownership of CALA Homes and buying Renaissance Villages, following its earlier backing of Inspired Villages [57]+2. [55]+9

Sources

• LEGAL & GENERAL GRP — Full financial report (2024 Y)
  50 citations

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