Sir Nigel also said that L&G – which manages about £1.4 trillion of savers’ money – is in discussions with companies it is invested in that have operations in Russia.
He said Russia has “stepped outside the box” in terms of L&G’s ethical criteria so it expects the companies in which it is a shareholder to “take action”.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, last week urged City fund managers to tell the London-listed companies they invest in that they must pull out of Russia.
Mr Sunak met with executives from L&G, Aviva, M&G, Phoenix and Fidelity last Friday and told them to use their influence to “inflict as much economic damage as possible” on Vladimir Putin’s regime.
L&G also pledged to divest all of its direct Russian holdings, which represent 0.1pc of assets under management or around £1.3bn.
Other major UK investors such as Aviva, M&G and Abrdn have also pledged to dispose of hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of Russia assets at the earliest possible opportunity.
They have been prevented from doing so by the closure of Moscow’s stock exchange and a lack of buyers on the Russian market.
Sir Nigel added that he will be attending a meeting in Downing St “at some point” to discuss ideas for reducing the UK’s reliance on gas.
Sir Nigel also welcomed the Government’s efforts to cut EU-era red tape in reforming the Solvency 2 rulebook governing insurers.
He said: “The expected reform of Solvency 2, the roll-out of the UK government’s levelling up programme, and our growing international businesses underscore our confidence in our ability to continue delivering on a broad range of profitable growth opportunities.”
Separately, L&G posted an 11pc jump in annual operating profit to £2.26bn, on the back of a strong performance in its direct investments unit.
Assets under management at the insurer’s fund management business, which is one of the biggest investors in Britain, totalled £1.4 trillion for the year to the end of December, up more than a tenth from a year earlier.
The company also said it would pay a full-year dividend of 18.45p per share.
Shares jumped more than 4pc to 256p, valuing the FTSE 100 company at £15.3bn.
