Royal London raises payouts

ROYAL LONDON, the insurance company, opened the with-profits bonus season yesterday by announcing that it is increasing payouts on its 25- year endowment policies by an average of 5 per cent.

The company said a man aged 29, paying pounds 50 a month into a 25-year endowment, would see the total payout increase from pounds 118,874 to pounds 124,835. Over 10 years, payouts increase by 1 per cent and by 0.5 per cent for 20-year policies. But 15-year maturity values will drop by 3 per cent compared to last year.