Aegon UK's leader Adrian Grace has said the insurer's belated dash to digital has put it "ahead of the game" as pensions freedoms kick in from April.

Mr Grace said the Edinburgh-based pensions specialist's drastic 25per cent cut in costs and its investment in the Retiready digital platform meant it could now expect a "rapid acceleration" of platform assets.

They rose to £2.75billion in the final quarter of 2014, from £2.35bn in the previous quarter and £1.28billion at the end of launch year 2013.

Aegon added 49,000 new customers in the quarter and saw underlying earnings rise by 37 per cent to £22m.

New life sales, however, were down 24per cent on the quarter at £152m, and 15per cent on a year earlier, with 2014 sales down a total 9 per cent at £783m.

Mr Grace commented: "The platform is the future, that is where we have refocused our teams."

He said tough decisions taken three or four years ago had paid off. "We had 5000 people in this business, we have got 2000 now......we have digitised the business and it is now very efficient."

Aegon made provisions of £26m for the cost of capping auto-enrolment pension charges at 0.75per cent and another £7m for compliance with the new regulations.

Last week Royal London boss Phil Loney warned that the looming "advice gap" might undermine the chancellor's freeing up of pension pots for over-55s from April, with soaring demand for qualified but affordable advice.

Mr Grace said: "There is an advice gap, we were the first in the market to launch a very simplified proposition which could target consumers who no longer have access to advice or who want advice or can go onto the internet and do it themselves." He said the firm had innovated with incentives such as a free iPad and a 0per cent charge. "We are ahead of the game in terms of what we have built in the non-advised market. I think we will see a rapid acceleration as we go into 2015, as pent-up demand is released and people will start to drive assets onto the platform, particularly drawdowns."

He went on: "For customers who are on some of the old systems, we will lift and shift them, and give them a better digital solution with an interface they can actually use."

Aegon's is the only platform catering for three markets, with its employer portal helping drive a further 300 auto-enrolment schemes in the last quarter. The adviser portal is aimed at referrals from advisers who cannot afford to service clients at lower levels of business.

Mr Grace said Aegon already had its full product offering ready for the new regime, with the exception of guaranteed income which was not yet on the platform.

Last week Standard Life bought a North of England advisory firm, joining the industry trend towards acquiring firms which will offer full advice but sell only the owner's investment products.

Aegon last year sold its loss-making Positive Solutions IFA network, but continues to own the Origen network, which posted a £5.6m loss last year and attributed it largely due to its corporate advice arm which uses Aegon's platform.

But Mr Grace said: "There is much talk about providers buying advisers, I don't want to in any way control advisers or restrict them in terms of what they can do. My job is to provide them with the best tools to do their job."

He said Origen was "an independent IFA where I probably get less than my normal market share".