Royal London has reported a record quarter of new business results but says group pensions will see a slowing of momentum in coming months.

Group pensions increased by 86% to £959m for the three months ended 31 March.

New life and pensions business on a PVNBP basis stood at £2,093 million, an increase of 52%, from £1,379m last year.

Consumer new business sales increased by 179% to £67m (Q1 2015: £24m).

Other key headline figures included:

• Individual Pensions £611m (+29%)
• Drawdown £291m (+19%)
• Protection Intermediary £147m (+37%)
• Consumer £67m (+179%)
• Total Group funds under management of £87.9bn at 31 March 2016, up 4% (£84.5bn at 31 December 2015).

Phil Loney, group chief executive of Royal London, said: “While new business growth remains robust I anticipate that group pensions will see a slowing of momentum in coming quarters.

“While we continue to bring on board large numbers of schemes, we anticipate that the average premium will be lower as more smaller employers enrol their workforces into a pension."

He said: "The first quarter of 2016 has repeated the record-breaking pattern established throughout 2015. Our strategy of striving to bring the best quality proposition and best customer outcomes to the market is really paying off.

“While our pension propositions have been leading the way for some time it is good to see that our protection proposition in the intermediary market is now finding strong levels of support from advisers.

“Our new consumer division which looks to bring real value to areas of the market where there has been little competition historically is now a significant source of new business in its own right.

“It focuses on simple products offering better value for money and fairer customer outcomes than our competitors. We continue to concentrate on a non-advised offering to customers who will not or do not utilise regulated financial advisers.”