UK insurance field trip: our takeaways On 18th November, we hosted investors on a Field Trip ''walking tour'' to meet with management at leading UK Life Insurers in London: Aviva (-), Just Group (NC), LandG (=), Lloyds Banking Group (+, covered by our Banks team)/Scottish Widows, MandG (=), and Phoenix (+). This note summarises the main takeaways from the conversations with management. Where does growth come from? Six quite different answers Each insurer emphasised the growth opportunity - but in quite different ways. Just Group is geared to the expansion of the bulk annuity market and is expanding its appetite into larger transactions. For LandG, in addition to the core bulk annuity business, management see a particular opportunity in pivoting towards higher-margin asset management strategies. Scottish Widows is seeking to use technology to enhance customer engagement with the wider Lloyds Banking Group customer base. Phoenix''s opportunity in retail annuities could be a powerful complement to its existing bulk annuity and unit linked savings businesses. MandG can use its With Profits fund to write business in a highly capital-efficient way and is seeking to launch new products from it. And Aviva''s investment in technology and operations is translating into better flows in Platform and a good start for the Direct Wealth business. Policy, regulation and the courts Investors are currently nervous about the impact of government policy, the regulator and the courts on UK insurers. Management teams think the new budget will likely create more demand for financial advice, which may also catalyse demand for individual annuities, and were pleased that the Finance Minister declined to take measures mandating proportional allocations to UK investments. All companies emphasized that the introduction of Consumer Duty means that they are already well prepared for the FCA''s review of protection distribution practices. There was more ambivalence and uncertainty on the...