Our financial strength

Remaining financially strong in challenging times

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What our financial strength means to you

At the Wesleyan Group, we understand the importance of financial strength and how it can matter to you. After all, when you’re looking to trust someone with your money, you need to know it’s in strong and safe hands.

Financial strength sits at the heart of our strategy, reflected by 180+ years as a financial organisation.

As Wesleyan, we’ve seen two world wars, multiple recessions and even global pandemics, and remained financially strong through it all. It’s this strength that allows us to remain resilient in the face of financial upheavals and uncertain markets, while being well placed to support our members and customers going forwards.

Strength through mutuality

For more than 180 years, Wesleyan has been a proud mutual, owned by, and managed on behalf of our members. During this time, we’ve experienced the highs and lows of an uneven financial landscape and come through it stronger and wiser.

This is due, in no small part, to our mutuality, which means we don’t have any shareholders to consider when it comes to making financial decisions or investments. Everything we do is for the sole benefit of our members and customers.

For instance, investment markets can be volatile, so when markets are down, we are likely to be buying out of favour stocks that we believe will benefit our investors in the long term. Shareholders, in contrast, might expect us to make short-term decisions to meet their needs first.

Also, as a mutual, we are not under pressure to release excess capital to shareholders. Therefore, we’re able to use profits to bolster our financial strength and benefit our members for years to come.

Indicators of our financial strength

Total assets

There was £7.6billion worth of assets either actively managed or administered by (or on behalf of) the Wesleyan Group in 2023.

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Solvency ratio

The solvency ratio, a key measurement of our financial strength, was 322% in 2023.

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Wesleyan Foundation

As an example of our financial strength, the Wesleyan Foundation has awarded £5.9million to good causes across the UK since 2017.

Our solvency ratio

A key metric by which we measure financial strength is the solvency ratio. At end of year 2023, our solvency ratio stood at 322%.

What is solvency ratio?

Solvency ratio measures our readiness to both meet future debt obligations and cover long-term liabilities. It is used in business to assess a company’s financial health. Ours is calculated as the ratio of eligible capital to the regulatory capital requirement.

  • Eligible capital – Financial resources eligible to be used to meet regulatory capital requirement
  • Regulatory capital requirement – The minimum amount of capital the regulator requires us to have easily available, to withstand the risks to which we’re exposed.

Our current solvency ratio demonstrates how we are committed to delivering for our members and customers, both now and in the future, with the business continuing to hold a strong and resilient position.