Aviva has said it expects earnings per share to grow in line with its 11% target this year after general insurance premiums increased 19% to £11.8bn in the first nine months, driven by its acquisition of Direct Line and a new home insurance partnership with Nationwide.
UK and Ireland general insurance premiums rose 27% to £8.5bn, with personal lines premiums up 54%, following the contribution from Direct Line, acquired for £3.7bn, and continued growth in intermediated business. Commercial lines premiums fell 5% as Aviva maintained underwriting discipline to prioritise profitability.
Group undiscounted combined operating ratio (COR), a measure of underwriting profitability, improved by 0.6 percentage points to 93.8%, from 94.4% a year earlier. Strong rate adequacy and favourable development from previous years partly offset increased weather-related claims activity in Canada during the third quarter. The discounted COR also improved to 89.8%, from 90.4%.
In Canada, general insurance premiums increased 2% in constant currency to £3.3bn, supported by 4% growth in personal lines, while commercial lines were flat.
Aviva's wealth business also delivered strong growth, with net flows increasing 31% to £10.9bn, representing 6% of opening assets under management. Assets under management rose 19% to £267bn, while the group now has more than six million wealth customers. Aviva said it remained confident of delivering at least £280m of wealth operating profit by 2027 and more than £500m by 2032.
Retirement sales fell to £3.5bn from £5.3bn a year earlier, reflecting lower bulk purchase annuity (BPA) volumes, although individual annuity sales increased 7% and equity release sales rose 11%.
Amanda Blanc, Aviva group CEO, said: “Aviva is in great shape. Our performance has been excellent in the first nine months of 2026, demonstrating once again the benefits of scale across our diversified business. We continue to deliver strong, profitable growth, particularly in the capital-light areas of general insurance and wealth.
"We grew general insurance premiums by 19% and, at the same time, improved profitability. In the UK, premiums are up 28%, boosted by our home insurance partnership with Nationwide and the great progress we are making with Direct Line.
"We see many opportunities to continue our profitable growth in general insurance, including growing Direct Line motor and home policies on price comparison websites, the launch of Aviva pet insurance this year, and through our market leading businesses in Canada and Ireland."
The group reiterated its three-year financial targets of 11% compound annual growth in operating earnings per share between 2025 and 2028, an IFRS return on equity above 20% by 2028 and cumulative cash remittances of more than £7bn between 2026 and 2028.
