Utmost Group plc has reported a step-up in scale and profitability for 2025, with record inflows and double-digit growth in assets under administration (AUA) across its insurance-based wealth solutions platform.
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2025, Utmost Wealth Solutions' (UWS) AUA rose to £116.3 billion, up from £103.5 billion in 2024. UWS gross flows increased to £9.7 billion from £6.8 billion, while net flows swung to a positive £2.6 billion compared with a £0.7 billion outflow the previous year. Operating profit rose to £224 million from £176 million and operating cash generation increased to £177 million from £142 million. Client retention edged up to 93% from 92%, although the UWS operating profit margin dipped to 46% from 48%.
CEO Paul Thompson (pictured) said 2025 was a "pivotal year" for the company after delivering a strong set of results.
"This performance reflects the strength of our enhanced global platform, the breadth of our distribution partnerships and the quality of our resilient business model," he said.
The uplift in AUA reflects both market performance and higher new business volumes across most regions, with Utmost highlighting double‑digit gross flow growth in six of its seven territories. Earlier disclosures showed UWS had £103.5 billion of AUA at the end of 2024, up from £58.5 billion a year earlier following the Lombard International acquisition.
Thompson said the year was also marked by “meaningful strategic progress”, underpinned by the completion of the integration and rebrand of Lombard International and the agreed sale of Utmost Life and Pensions.
“We also made meaningful strategic progress. The full integration and rebrand of Lombard International is now complete, and the announced sale of Utmost Life and Pensions marks an important step in our evolution into a focused specialist global wealth solutions provider," he said.
The Lombard transaction significantly expanded Utmost’s footprint in key international wealth hubs and added scale in high net worth unit‑linked life business.
By contrast, the sale of Utmost Life and Pensions to JAB Insurance will see the group step back from its UK life and pensions franchise, including bulk purchase annuity activity, in favour of concentrating capital and management attention on insurance-based wealth solutions. The deal, announced in late 2025, is expected to complete in 2026 subject to regulatory approvals.
Utmost said the divestment “sharpens our organisational focus and allows us to redeploy capital and operational capacity to opportunities where Utmost has a clear competitive advantage”.
Utmost’s scale in AUA now places it among the larger dedicated insurance-based wealth platforms, but still behind diversified European life groups that also target the high net worth (HNW) segment.
Swiss Life Group, for example, reported about 288 billion Swiss francs of assets under management for 2025 across its insurance nad asset mangaement businesses, with its international division continuing to invest in cross-border private wealth and Luxembourg-based life insurance structures.
Utmost's own 2024 Wealth Management Market Study, with NMG Consulting, estimated that international HNW life insurance new business rose by about 25% in 2024 and projected cumulative additional new business sales of roughly £90 billion between 2025 and 2030, taking annual sales to £67 billion by the end of the decade. The same study suggested that global HNW assets held in insurance-based solutions remain a small fraction of total HNW wealth, highlighting headroom for growth as penetration increases.
Competition is also emerging from bancassurers and global wealth managers that are building out insurance and wealth‑protection offerings for internationally mobile clients. HSBC Life has used record-breaking jumbo policies in Hong Kong and Singapore to underline its ambitions in the ultra-HNW protection and wealth planning space, including a US$250 million single policy.
Against that backdrop, Utmost’s £116.3 billion of AUA is material but still niche relative to global private wealth pools, reinforcing management’s emphasis on specialism in insurance-based solutions rather than competing head‑on with full‑service private banks. The group’s focus on Luxembourg, Ireland and international life centres such as the Isle of Man and Guernsey keeps it anchored in jurisdictions that are already established hubs for cross‑border HNW planning.
In its outlook, Utmost positions itself to benefit from long‑term wealth transfer and the growth of the global HNW population. It highlights rising demand for advice‑based, tax‑efficient and multi‑jurisdictional solutions as families with complex cross‑border arrangements look to manage succession, asset protection and long‑term planning.
A market study commissioned by the group suggested that increasing penetration of insurance-based wealth solutions by just one to three percentage points could add over £240 billion of additional assets and grow the international HNW life insurance market by about 50%.
Utmost estimates that its own addressable market will generate an additional £92 billion of new business over the next five years and argues it is well placed to capture a meaningful share, given its multiple booking centres and distribution relationships with private banks, family offices and advisers.
The 93% client retention rate underpins a recurring fee base, but also leaves the business exposed, like peers, to market moves and regulatory changes in the wealth and tax regimes it operates within.
Looking ahead to 2026, Utmost said it continues to invest in its operational infrastructure and digital capabilities, “recognising the significant potential of AI to enhance the client and adviser experience, drive efficiencies and extend the productivity of our teams”.
“As we look ahead with a sharpened strategic focus, a strengthened platform and a diversified global footprint, we are confident in our ability to capitalise on the structurally attractive growth opportunities in our markets, serve the rising demand for advice-based, long-term wealth solutions globally, and deliver sustainable growth and long-term value for our clients, partners and shareholders,” Thompson said.
