Insurance and pensions group Legal & General (L&G) racked up record annuity sales despite British government changes that have relaxed obligations on people to buy annuities to save for their retirement.L&G said its retirement arm completed £3.9bn of annuity sales in the nine months to September, of which only about £500m was from the individual annuity market, implying that it was securing more company pension business.The news comes after Chancellor George Osborne announced earlier this year that pensioners would no longer be forced to buy annuities, sparking criticism that people would simply withdraw their pension pots and spend them on holidays or fast cars.L&G also said it had secured another £800m of bulk premiums in the fourth quarter to date. Chief executive Nigel Wilson said: "Our immediate pipeline gives us high confidence in writing around £8bn in total annuity transactions for the full year, double our total annuity premium for 2013."In the last year, L&G Investment Management's total assets increased £82bn from £594bn to £676bn. International assets now exceed £86bn and have trebled in the last four years, although the group faced net outflows in its UK index business.In UK insurance, retail protection increased its sales by 18%.Wilson said: "Recent market volatility is a reminder of the on-going market uncertainty that still exists and whilst no model can be completely immunised, we believe our strategy creates a high degree of resilience."