Aviva said its retirement sales jumped 67% to £7.3bn from a year ago, driven by higher bulk purchase annuity volumes.

It pointed out that individual annuity sales were up 13% to £957m “a result of sustained customer demand in the higher interest rate environment”.

But added that equity release sales “were lower reflecting a contraction of the market,” without providing further details in a third-quarter trading statement to the end of September.

However, the number of equity release new plans agreed lifted 2% to 5,370 in the third quarter across the whole of the sector, which meant that period became the first quarter since the mini-Budget in Autumn 2022 where the equity release market saw two successive quarters of growth, according to Equity Release Council data last month.

Aviva said its protection sales were up 44% following the completion of its £453m acquisition of AIG UK protection in April and “double-digit growth” in health in-force premiums.

It added that UK and Ireland general insurance premiums were up 18% to £5.7bn, boosted by 25% growth in personal lines and 11% growth in commercial lines, with “both balanced between continued strong new business and pricing actions to offset the inflationary environment”.

The firm’s wealth unit posted net flows of £7.7bn, up 21%, or 6%5 of opening assets under management, partly reflecting strong growth in its adviser platform.

Its solvency II ratio, which measures capital levels compared to requirements, dipped to 195% from 205%.

The business has five million customers in the UK and Ireland and also has major operations in Canada.

Aviva group chief executive Amanda Blanc said: “Aviva is financially strong, trading well each quarter and has significant opportunities for further growth. We are confident about the outlook for the rest of 2024 and beyond.”