Norwich Union (NU) has launched Property Market Insurance (PMI), a new online tool that aims to help brokers provide a more flexible and efficient service to property owners. PMI is a Windows-based application that operates in real time and input information is only accessible by the broker and NU. The system calculates premiums and takes [...]
Norwich Union (NU) has announced that it will be compensating some of its pension customers by around £300 each. The insurer has discovered an error in its scale of administrative charges which means that some people who bought the company’s stakeholder pensions have been overpaying. Stakeholder pensions were introduced in April 2001 under legislation that [...]
London-based Aviva Plc, the biggest insurer in the UK by assets, sought to reassure investors today as it posted sales results for the third quarter. The insurer told shareholders that its capital reserves are ‘very strong’ and reported a 12% rise in life and pension sales during the first nine months of 2008. New business [...]
Norwich Union (NU) has withdrawn its unemployment-only cover, provided through its partnership with Paymentshield, which claims to be the UK’s largest independent supplier of mortgage related insurance products to the intermediary sector. The withdrawal has been made with immediate effect and analysts expect other insurers to follow suit, given that both the Prime Minister and [...]
The recent turmoil in the financial markets has led to speculation that Norwich Union’s (NU) long-awaited reattribution of its with-profits surplus could be shelved. In July, NU’s parent company, Aviva, announced that it would be prepared to pay a windfall that would average £1,000 per policyholder, to customers who had invested in GCNU Life or [...]
Norwich Union (NU) is reintroducing exit penalties for around 1.2 million customers who may need to cash in their savings before their policies mature. The insurer says that volatile stock markets have led it to apply a Market Value Reduction (MVR) on some of its with-profits plans, which could reduce the value of investments by [...]
Norwich Union (NU) has withdrawn its direct motor products from all insurance price comparison websites. The company, which forms part of the Aviva group, has announced the launch of Price Check Norwich Union, an Internet and telephone service that promises to show customers the prices and details of competitors’ products, even when they outshine its [...]
Norwich Union (NU) has announced that it is cutting final bonuses for with-profits policyholders whose policies are maturing this year. The insurer, which is part of the Aviva group, says it is taking the action to protect the strength of its four with-profits funds amid falling equity markets, commercial property values and corporate bond yields. [...]
The lengthy matter of the reattribution of Norwich Union’s with-profits surplus looks close to a resolution, as the insurer’s parent company, Aviva, announces that it is prepared to pay a windfall that would average £1,000 per policyholder. The customers eligible for the payout are those who invested in GCNU Life or CULAC with-profits funds before [...]
Following the publication of the Pitt Review, Norwich Union Risk Services (NURS) has responded to the report by recommending that companies should develop flood contingency elements in their business continuity plans (BCP). The Pitt Review revealed that the average period of disruption caused to businesses as a result of last year’s floods stood at 8.75 [...]
Norwich Union has withdrawn its “pay-as-you-drive” motor insurance scheme. The policy was launched at the end of 2006 and used new technology to lower accident rates by changing motorists’ driving patterns, and subsequently lower their insurance premiums. With a global positioning system fitted in each policyholder’s vehicle, premiums were based on the distance driven, the [...]
Norwich Union, which is owned by Aviva, could shed as many as 1,800 jobs within the next two years. By 2010 Aviva is expected to have reduced Norwich Union insurance operations across the UK to focus on seven main centres: Norwich, Perth, Bishop Briggs, Stretford, Manchester, Leicester and Southend. The move comes as part of [...]
Aviva, the parent company of Norwich Union, has announced that it will close 15 of its 22 UK call centres by 2010. The move forms part of a rationalisation of the group’s general insurance business and will result in around 1,800 job losses. It is understood that Aviva will also be dramatically reducing the number [...]
Group Direct, the brokerage founded in 2002 by entrepreneurs Arron Banks and John Gannon, has acquired mortgage broker and debt management company, Brightside Group. The purchase has taken the form of a reverse take over and includes the acquisition of Injury QED, which provides medical reports and other data for personal injury claims. The move [...]
Friends Provident has effectively sold its pension scheme by insuring around £350 million of the scheme’s liabilities with Norwich Union. The move, which is being couched as a pension fund buy-in, transfers the responsibility for paying 3,200 pensioners in Friends Provident’s final salary scheme to Norwich Union. The scheme’s chairman, Mike Hampton, is keen to [...]
Norwich Union (NU) says it is close to resolving the dispute over the reattribution of the £2.6 billion of surplus capital in its with-profits fund. A Treasury Select Committee has been reviewing the proposals drawn up by NU’s owner, Aviva, in the light of objections raised by Clare Spottiswoode, who is acting as policyholder advocate. [...]
Aviva has shocked the UK insurance world with the news that it will be dropping its Norwich Union brand. Norwich Union was formed in 1797 and has been a household name in general insurance for decades. However, Aviva’s chief executive, Andrew Moss, is keen to have all the group’s products under one brand that can [...]
Travellers passing through Heathrow’s Terminal 5 may experience difficulties purchasing insurance for flight delays and lost baggage. A number of companies are withdrawing cover for those using the £4.3 billion terminal, which has seen various states of chaos since it opened on 27th March. Problems with baggage handling have led to record baggage mounds plus [...]
Norwich Union is warning its customers that installing CCTV at domestic premises will not necessarily result in lower insurance premiums. While CCVT is still regarded as something of a niche product in the domestic market, demand for the security systems is increasing. Electrical retailer, Maplin, has reported a 70% increase in its sales of domestic [...]
