Legal and General acquires Newlife Home Finance for £5m

Insurance group Legal and General (L&G) has purchased lifetime mortgage provider Newlife Home Finance for £5m.Lifetime mortgages allow house-owners to borrow against the value of their property, which is then paid back once they die.Insurers have been encouraged to widen the range of their business by the government, which is set to wheel out a set of reforms in April.Pensioners will no longer require to buy an annuity when they retire and sales of annuities have fallen by over 50% since the new legislations were unveiled last year, with some analysts suggesting annuity sales could fall as much as 85%."Going forward we believe an increasing number of people will access their housing wealth to help provide extra retirement income," L&G said in a statement.L&G shares were down 0.67% to 267.10p at 15:19 on Monday.