Member Article

Police Mutual Group Sees significant growth in 2014  

Police Mutual Group, one of the fastest growing financial services organisations, has followed its impressive 2013 trading results with further significant growth in 2014. A dramatic growth in home and motor insurance new business income of 26% helped deliver an overall growth in new business income of 19% with growth achieved in all product lines. Total income growth for 2014 was 15%.

As the largest, and growing, affinity friendly society provider in the UK, Police Mutual is run on a commercial but not-for-profit basis and provides an exclusive range of products and services across: regular savings, investments, insurance, mortgages and healthcare and Independent Financial Advice. The Group now also includes the Forces Financial business, which was acquired in February 2014 as part of the R3 Group and which delivered an additional £7.5m gross income in 2014.

Police Mutual Group’s key financial highlights in 2014 included:

At the end of 2014, Police Mutual’s funds under management reached £884m, increasing from £840m at the start of the year The organisation’s investment fund continued its strong performance with a gross return of 8.1% over the 12 months to 31 December 2014 – bringing the cumulative gross return over a five year period to 41.9%. The combination of operational and investment success has enabled Police Mutual to maintain its strong capital position, despite some volatile market movements. Over three years, Police Mutual’s performance has added over £100m more for its members than if they had invested their money in the average cash ISA.

In 2014, Police Mutual helped more members make the most of their money:

Members saved £67.9m in Regular Savings plans and 28,500 new plans were taken out Members saved £16.5m in Guaranteed ISAs – an increase from £11.2m in 2013 By switching to Police Mutual members saved on average £111 on car insurance* and £134 on home insurance

Commenting on the results, Stephen Mann, Chief Executive at Police Mutual, said: “2014 was an exceptional year for Police Mutual, with records for new business broken again. Our investment in people, capability and in developing our members’ business continues to get results and the level of change successfully delivered last year sets us up well for 2015.

Mann continues “More importantly, this business performance reflects the value of our not-for-profit philosophy and enables us to offer more to our members and support the work of the Police Service.”

Police Mutual works hard to ensure it is seen as a trusted member of the ‘Police family’, sending a clear message that it understands the challenges and dangers they face and the impact such situations can have on them and those around them. In 2014 Police Mutual continued its sole sponsorship of the annual Police Bravery Awards run by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), the staff association that represents all 131,000 Police Officers up to and including the rank of Chief Inspector.

The local winner for the Midlands region was PC Roger French from Staffordshire who rescued two men from an arson attack by repeatedly returning to a burning building to bring them to safety.

In addition to this sponsorship, 2014 saw Police Mutual providing practical solutions, delivering over 1,000 financial education and pre-retirement courses across the country, helping over 12,400 Officers and Staff make sense of their finances.

Through the Police Mutual Foundation, it supports the wider wellbeing of Police Officers and Staff by working alongside existing force resources to deliver a range of practical help, insight and learning. In 2014, £420,000 was spent on Foundation activities including providing over 4,000 free health screenings, supporting 108 families through respite breaks and commissioning research into protecting the mental health of Police employees.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Jones .