Friends Provident is an organisation offering life insurance in the United Kingdom. It was founded as a mutual Friendly Society for Quakers, although it was demutualised in 2001 and became a publicly listed company, no longer linked with the Religious Society of Friends.
The head office is now located at 100 Wood Street in London. The registered office is at Pixham End, Dorking in Surrey. It is a member of the Association of British Insurers and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until being acquired by buyout firm Resolution in November 2009. F&C Asset Management demerged from Friends Provident in 2009.[1]
History
The Company was founded by Samuel Tuke and Joseph Rowntree, both Quakers, in 1832 in Bradford as the Friends Provident Institution,[2] a friendly society for members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). In 1854 it became a mutual life assurance company. In 1918 it acquired Century Insurance and in 1926 it bought Liverpool Marine & General Insurance.[3]
Policies and membership of the Friends Provident Institution was only available to Quakers until 1915. Until 1983, a minimum of five members of the Board of Directors of Friends Provident had to be Quakers. Today, Friends Provident does not have any formal link with the Religious Society of Friends.
In 1986 it merged with UK Provident.[4] In 1992 it became a foundation partner in the Eureko Alliance in association with AVCB (The Netherlands), Topdanmark (Denmark) and Wasa (Sweden). As part of this alliance, Friends Provident passed all of its then non UK subsidiaries (primarily in Australia and Canada) into Eureko.[5]
In 1993 it acquired the UK operations of National Mutual of Australia and in 1998 it acquired London & Manchester Assurance.[4]
In July 2001 it went through a process of demutualisation and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange.[6]
On January 21, 2008 JC Flowers made a bid of £4bn (175p per share) as an informal offer for the company[7].
Resolution resumed talks with Friends Provident in July 2009 but was rejected twice,[8] though Friends Provident eventually agreed to a takeover in August 2009.[9] The £1.86 billion acquisition closed in November 2009.[10]
Operations
The UK Life and Pensions business markets a range of life protection, income protection, pensions and investment products for individual customers and corporate clients throughout the UK.[11]
The International Life and Pensions business operates throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and incorporates the Luxemburg based company Lombard International who specialise in providing life assurance based estate planning solutions.[11]
Senior management
Trevor Matthews, chief executive
Trevor Matthews joined the organisation as chief executive on 30 July 2008, his annual salary for this role is £720,000.[12]
Ethical stance
Friends Provident prides itself on its ethical stance. It was the first investment house to offer a fully ethical investment fund called the Stewardship fund [13].
Members of the Friends Provident Group
- Friends Provident Life and Pension Limited - Provides life, pension and investment services within the UK
- Friends Provident Life Assurance Limited - Provides life and investment services worldwide under English and Guernsey law.
- Friends Provident International Limited - Formerly Royal and Sun Alliance International but was taken over in 2003. Provides life and investment services worldwide and operates under the law of the Isle of Man.
- Lombard International Insurance S.A. - Acquired in 2005, providers of high-end Investment and life cover. Inventors and developers of the privatbancassurance concept. Lombard is based in Luxembourg and deals globally.
Offices
Friends Provident has large offices in a number of locations including Manchester (currently in the process of moving from The Express Building to Spring Gardens, with the move expected to be complete by September 2009), Clyst St. Mary in Exeter and Dorking, and is the second largest employer in Salisbury. There are also a few smaller area offices such as those in Bristol and Preston.
Internationally Friends Provident has offices in Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai, where it's offshore processing team is based.
Friends Provident has signed a three year deal to sponsor the domestic one-day cricket competition, The Friends Provident Trophy.[14]
Friends Provident sponsored Southampton F.C. and help finance the building of St Mary's Stadium, until 2006.[15]
External links
References
