National Announces New UK Strategic Life Insurance Alliance - 13 August 2003
London, 13 August 2003: The National Australia Group has delivered another key aspect of its international growth program with the announcement of a new strategic alliance for the National's UK Wealth Management division.
The agreement will see Legal & General (* see note below) life insurance offered to the three million customers of the National's three UK banks, the Clydesdale, Yorkshire and Northern Banks.
From September, Legal & General life assurance will be offered as a stand-alone product and as part of its mortgage and critical illness protection range. This will replace the National's own products, which have been provided by its UK subsidiary National Australia Life since 1995.
The agreement with Legal & General comes just months after the National announced an alliance with Junction, a part of the UK's Budget Group of Companies, to provide product and administration services for its home and motor insurance operations.
Richard Hoskins, the National's UK Head of Insurance, said the Legal & General agreement was a key part of the National's growth strategy, which has focused on distribution and relationship management.
"The UK insurance industry is one of the most competitive and dynamic in the world and the companies that succeed here are those that play to their strengths. We have enormous capabilities in customer relationship management and distribution and have re-engineered our operations to focus on these areas.
"In the past year we launched an innovative home and motor offering, streamlined administrative processes and systems and, now, we have created a powerful alliance with one of the UK's most trusted and respected insurance companies to build our life operations.
"This is a major step for WME and an exciting opportunity for the National to grow our business. The National's customer base in the UK is a significant market for life insurance, mortgage and critical illness protection and we look forward to being able to make the benefits of Legal & General products available to them. Our agreement with Legal & General aligns us with one of the UK's strongest life insurance brands and enables us to offer our customers a flexible and competitive suite of products backed up by superb customer service."
Kate Avery, Legal & General's Group Director, Retail Distribution said: "We are delighted to have agreed this new alliance, particularly as the customer values of both organisations are closely aligned. Both Legal & General and the National look to put the customer at the heart of business planning and aim to deliver a range of value-for-money products backed by a high level of customer service. We are now very experienced in the delivery of this type of bancassurance model through our existing alliances, and as a result we are looking forward to a successful relationship as the preferred life assurance provider for the National."
For further information:
In Australia
Samantha Evans
Corporate Affairs, National Wealth Management
Tel: +61 2 9957 8731
samantha_evans@wm.national.com.au
In the UK
Tim Pie
Corporate Affairs, National Wealth Management Europe
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7710 2145
tim.pie@eu.nabgroup.com
About Wealth Management and MLC
A division of the National Group, Wealth Management manages and operates a diverse portfolio of financial services businesses. Through partnership with a range of financial advisers, it provides quality financial planning services and wealth creation (investments, financial planning, private banking), wealth protection (insurance), and wealth succession (superannuation) solutions to retail and corporate customers, as well as portfolio implementation systems and business coaching services to financial advisers. Wealth Management, which includes MLC, is differentiated by its unique "manager of managers" investment approach and multi-channel distribution and advice capabilities. Wealth Management has more than 2.8 million customers across Australia, Great Britain and Ireland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, and New Zealand, and manages more than $64 billion on behalf of retail and corporate customers.
About Legal & General
Legal & General in the UK is not connected with the Australia-based business of the same name.
Legal & General provides customers with the option to buy a range of financial planning products and services through the distribution channels of their choice. Legal & General's products are also available through the high street outlets of business partners throughout the UK. These include estate agents, mortgage advisers, insurance brokers and Barclays, Alliance & Leicester, Northern Rock, Yorkshire Building Society and Scarborough Building Society. Customers can also buy Legal & General's products from Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs). Legal & General was voted "Life Insurer of the Year" at the British Insurance Awards in July 2003 for the fifth time in six years.