Pension and insurance giant Legal & General has said its balance sheet remains strong and that full-year earnings are on track despite the mini-Budget market turmoil that left some pension funds on the brink of collapse.
The FTSE 100 group said the market chaos that caused the pound to plunge to record lows against the dollar and sent gilt yield soaring had caused “challenges” for the pension fund clients and counterparties of its LGIM UK Liability Driven Investment (LDI) business.
But it said the Bank of England’s emergency gilt-buying programme had “helped to alleviate the pressure on our clients”.
It added: “We are continuing to work closely with them to achieve appropriate hedging levels in their portfolios.”
L&G said its annuity portfolio had also not suffered any problems in meeting collateral calls and said it had “not been forced sellers of gilts or bonds”.
The group said it expects to deliver 2022 operating profit growth in line with the 8pc growth delivered in the first half, while capital generation set to come in at £1.8bn.
Sir Nigel Wilson, chief executive of…
