Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General, thinks it distasteful to talk about, but a death-dealing plague would — in one way — be rather good for Britain’s biggest domestic insurer. In pure actuarial terms, every casualty would be one less promised pension to pay out.
The boost from all those annuity promises that L&G would no longer have to meet almost certainly would more than offset the extra cost from people claiming on their loved one’s term life assurance policies. Insurance is not a business for thanatophobics.
As it is, the group is benefiting because life expectancy hasn’t grown as rapidly as had been expected, enabling it to release reserves of another £155 million last year, cash that it had earmarked previously
