Stephen McGee – CEO of Scottish Friendly

The result, slightly down from £51.1m in 2023, was supported by a roughly 30% year-on-year increase in sales of its own-brand products, particularly ISAs and Junior ISAs.

The society’s robust financial health allowed it to distribute £23.0m to eligible members, including £4.5m through its 2024 ProfitShare scheme. Its solvency ratio also improved substantially, rising by 26 percentage points to 216%, well above regulatory requirements. Total assets under management were £4.2 billion, slightly down from £4.6bn the previous year due to market conditions and net policyholder flows.

Scottish Friendly has, subject to regulatory approval, also recently announced the acquisition of pension and annuity in-payment books of business from Fidelity International. This marks another important step to grow the Society and deliver real value for its members. The acquisition consists of a book of unit-linked Section 32 pensions business comprising £2.14bn liabilities across 76 schemes and covering c. 40,000 policyholders, and the in-payment annuities book with liabilities of £7.3m and c1,000 annuitants.

In 2024, the Society also remained committed to making a positive impact in its local community, through continued partnerships with organisations such as Action for Children and Developing the Young Workforce. Some examples of contributions in 2024 were through the following funding and volunteering initiatives:

• Supporting Action for Children in delivering the Wellbeing Programme by funding two part-time Wellbeing Practitioners
• Raising over £12,000 at Action for Children’s annual flagship fundraiser Boycott Your Bed
• Supporting our young apprentices through Developing the Young Workforce

The member owned mutual also continues to advocate for Junior ISA reform, calling for changes that would allow grandparents and other family members to open accounts on behalf of children – making it easier for families to build financial resilience for the next generation.

Stephen McGee, Scottish Friendly’s chief executive, said: “2024 marked another milestone in Scottish Friendly’s rich 163-year history, as we achieved our second-highest sales result to date and shared some profits with our eligible members.

“This is a testament to the strength of our strategy and unwavering focus on delivering meaningful value to our members. Our acquisition from Fidelity International builds on our recent performance and underlines our ambition to scale responsibly while remaining focused on member value.”

Alan Rankine, Scottish Friendly’s chief financial officer, said: “2024 has been another year of solid performance for Scottish Friendly, despite continued geopolitical and economic challenges.

“Our sales results demonstrate the strength of our business model, while our solvency ratio far exceeds our regulatory requirements, highlighting the financial resilience that underpins everything we do.

“We remain focused and confident in our ability to deliver on our strategic goals and continue supporting our members’ financial wellbeing.”