Rise in with-profits value for Standard Life savers

Standard Life said yesterday that the majority of its long-term savings customers had seen an increase in the value of their policies during the past year despite stock market volatility.

The Edinburgh-based group said, however, that not all of its with-profits customers whose policies matured this year would see an increase in the final bonuses they received on their plan.

Instead, it said some customers would have higher final bonuses than were paid last year, while others would have lower ones, although it declined to say how many customers fall into each camp or what the range of bonuses being paid is.

The group said someone who took out a 25-year endowment policy into which they paid £50 a month could expect a final payout of £29,290 if their policy matures this year.

A pensions policy into which someone paid £200 a month for 20 years will be worth £81,629.

Margaret Flaherty, with-profits communications manager at Standard Life, said: “After an encouraging start to the year for investment markets, we have seen sharp falls in equity values over the last couple of months.

“We are pleased to say that despite the recent volatility in investment returns, most with-profits investors will have seen an increase in their plan value over the last year.”

With-profits are long-term savings products that aim to smooth out investment volatility by holding back some returns in good years to pay out in bad ones. They are often taken out as a pension or an endowment to pay off a mortgage.