15 January 2014

Legal & General's Retirement Business has extended the duration of the rate guarantee period that applies to individual annuity quotations, both new quotes and re quotes, from 18 to 35 days, with immediate effect.

The extended annuity rate guarantee period applies to both standard and enhanced annuity products, across all distribution channels.

The new guarantee period nearly doubles the time available for customers and intermediaries to  complete the annuity transaction based on the Legal & General rate they were originally quoted. It will also help to reduce the need for re-quotes, so saving customers and intermediaries, time and money.

Legal & General also offers customers a 'Best Rate Guarantee', where customers benefit from any improvement in annuity rates during the rate guarantee period. This means that if annuity rates improve, within the annuity rate guarantee period, the better annuity rate is automatically applied should they decide to purchase their annuity with  Legal & General. This 'Best Rate Guarantee' facility will continue to be available with the introduction of the new extended guaranteed period.

Tim Gosden, Head of Strategy for Legal & General's Individual Retirement Solutions Business said; "We've been aware that the length of the guarantee period can place  some customers and intermediaries under unnecessary pressure when they are in the process of trying to secure the best retirement income solution.  By effectively doubling the annuity rate guarantee period from 18 to 35 days, we believe that significantly more customers will be able to secure their annuity income on the terms originally quoted by us and potentially benefit from our 'Best Rate Guarantee'.

Given the often 'one off' nature of annuity purchase, making the right decisions  is very important and so we hope  our new extended guarantee period will mean that customers and intermediaries have extra time to  consider the options without the worry and financial consequences of missing the annuity rate guarantee deadline.

This initiative, which is in line with the principles of the ABI Code of Conduct, is part of our on-going strategy to continue to improve the overall proposition for our annuity customers."

Adviser and intermediaries wanting more detail should contact their usual Legal & General contact or go to the adviser centre. http://www.legalandgeneral.com/advisercentre/news/articles-annuities/extended-annuity-quote-guarantee.html

Notes to editors
  • Legal & General is one of the UK's leading financial services companies and one of the UK's top 50 companies in the FTSE 100 Index. Over 7 million people rely on us for life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans.
  • Legal & General has been an active participant in the annuity market for over 25 years and provides annuities to over 735,000 current pensioners and over 165,000 deferred pensioners.
  • Legal & General Retirement Business is one of the leading annuity providers in the UK and has expertise in investment management, as well as an in-depth understanding of mortality trends and longevity risk. As one of the leading annuity providers, Legal & General's aim is to consistently offer our customers competitive annuity rates that rank in the top 5 of annuity rates available.
  • The information contained in this release is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.
  • Legal & General Assurance Society Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
  • Legal & General Assurance Society Limited. Registered address: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA. Registered in England No 166055.

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