Jason Whyte and Partnership Assurance

Partnership Assurance: Unsurprisingly, annuity sales fell by almost a third during the first half of 2014 and are expected to tumble further. Companies like the newly listed Partnership Assurance and Just Retirement which both specialise in selling annuities to people who are ill are having to completely overhaul their operations in order to survive, according to The Independent. Insurers had not been planning for the annuities reform announced in the Budget, said Jason Whyte, a partner at EY. Reforms of this scale will always be a catalyst for significant change, but the suddenness of the Chancellors announcement means it has taken time for insurers to work through the implications and deal with the most immediate challenges. It is only now that we are starting to see the industry make moves to respond strategically. In 2015 we expect to see much more activity in this space as industry players continue to re-evaluate their market positions under the new rules and Billions of pounds were wiped off the value of life insurers within hours, after the Chancellor announced radical reforms to the UK pensions market. These handed retired workers more freedom with their money and meant that, from next April, they no longer have to buy an annuity when they finish work. Experts are now predicting a wave of sector consolidation led by Aviva and Friends Life, who agreed terms on Tuesday for a 5.6bn merger that will create a company worth more than 20bn with 16 million customers, if the deal is backed by shareholders. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.