Aviva plc provides long-term insurance and savings, general and health insurance, and fund management products and services worldwide. The company’s business operates across four main market sectors - life insurance and savings; general insurance, accident and health insurance; and fund management, providing services to approximately 33 million customers worldwide. The company operates in 16 different countries.
Segments
The company’s segments include UK & Ireland; France; Poland; Italy, Spain...
Aviva plc provides long-term insurance and savings, general and health insurance, and fund management products and services worldwide. The company’s business operates across four main market sectors - life insurance and savings; general insurance, accident and health insurance; and fund management, providing services to approximately 33 million customers worldwide. The company operates in 16 different countries.
Segments
The company’s segments include UK & Ireland; France; Poland; Italy, Spain and Other; Canada; Asia; and Aviva Investors.
Life Insurance and Savings business
The company has life insurance businesses in the U.K., Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Turkey and Asia. It operates under the ‘Aviva’ brand worldwide. The company’s long-term insurance and savings businesses offer a range of life insurance and savings products. The company’s products are split into various categories.
Pensions - The company’s pension products include personal and group pensions, stakeholder pensions and income drawdown.
Annuities - This includes policy that pays out regular amounts of benefit, either immediately and for the remainder of a person's lifetime, or deferred to commence from a future date.
Protection – This includes an insurance contract that protects the policyholder or his or her dependants against financial loss on death or ill-health. The company’s product ranges include term assurance, mortgage life insurance, flexible whole of life and critical illness cover and group schemes.
Bonds and Savings – This includes accumulation products with single or regular premiums and unit-linked or guaranteed investment returns. The company’s product ranges include single premium investment bonds and regular premium savings plans.
Investment Sales – This includes retail sales of mutual fund type products, such as unit trusts, individual savings accounts (ISAs) and open ended investment companies (OEICs).
Other – This includes equity release contracts.
General Insurance and Health Insurance
The company is a general insurer in the United Kingdom and Canada. It also has general insurance operations in France, Italy, Ireland, and Poland. The company sells health products in the U.K., Ireland, France, Singapore and Indonesia.
The company’s general insurance business operates under the Aviva brand and concentrates on various products, such as personal lines comprising motor, household, travel and creditor; commercial lines comprising fleet, liability and commercial property insurance; health insurance comprising private health insurance, income protection and personal accident insurance, as well as a range of corporate healthcare products; and corporate and specialty risks, including products for large clients or where the risk is specialized.
Fund Management
Aviva Investors, the company’s fund management business, provides fund management services to its long-term insurance and savings, and general insurance operations, as well as to third-party investors. The fund management operations are in the U.K., Europe, North America and Asia. All sales of retail fund management products are included in its long-term insurance and savings business sales.
Aviva Investors products cover a range of asset classes. In Europe, this includes open-ended collective investment schemes, which are domiciled in France, Luxembourg and Poland; while in the United Kingdom, this includes segregated mandates and specialist funds for pension schemes, local authorities and insurance companies, as well as retail and wholesale products. Other offerings include specialist property funds and money market funds.
Customers can buy the company’s products through a range of distribution channels, including in some of its European and Asian markets, the company operates direct sales forces that only sell its products. The company offers a range of long-term insurance, savings, retirement, general insurance and health insurance products which could be bought through an intermediary, such as an independent financial adviser or an insurance broker. The company is a corporate partner for various organisations, including banks and other financial institutions, who wish to offer their customers insurance products. The company has various distribution agreements with bancassurance partners and joint ventures across the markets in which the company operates.
UK & Ireland Life
In April 2015, the company completed the acquisition of Friends Life Group Limited (Friends Life). The U.K. business provides long-term insurance and savings; and the Irish business offers life and pensions products. The company’s strategy in the U.K. is to continue to offer great value to its customers through its market expertise in retirement, corporate benefits, protection and health products; and continuing to integrate Friends Life and realise synergies. The company’s Irish long-term business is focused primarily on distribution through intermediaries.
In the U.K., the company provides a comprehensive product range focused on both the consumer and corporate markets. The pensions and retirement products it offers include personal pensions, equity release, annuities and income drawdown. Its annuity offerings include immediate life, enhanced, fixed-term annuities and with-profits pension annuities. The company provides traditional life insurance products, including level-term, decreasing-term (with or without critical illness), guaranteed whole life insurance, and approximately 50s life cover and income protection. The company’s savings and investment products include ISAs, investment bonds, funds, base rate trackers, investments with guarantees, and with-profits products. A direct to consumer platform offers new retirement propositions and investment products.
In Ireland, the company’s long-term insurance and savings business offers a range of products with its focus being on protection, annuities, and pensions and savings products. The company’s protection products include life insurance, mortgage protection and specified illness. The pension and savings range covers retirement and investment products. In the U.K., the company has distribution deals for the sale of protection products with Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Santander, Tesco, the Post Office, Connells, Countrywide, and LSL estate agents. It also offers Aviva Life Protection Solutions to advisers and customers in the U.K., which offers flexible cover with all policy documents stored online.
Competition: The company’s competitors include Standard Life, Prudential, Legal & General Group plc, Scottish Widows plc, JRP Group and Royal London. In the life and pensions market in Ireland, the company’s main competitors are Bank of Ireland Life, Irish Life Group Limited, Zurich Life and Friends First.
UK & Ireland General Insurance
The company provides a range of general insurance products both in the U.K. and Ireland. In the U.K. it has a business mix of personal lines and commercial lines. The company’s U.K. personal products include motor, home and travel insurance. Its U.K. commercial products include motor, property and liability insurance for small and medium size enterprises and larger U.K. corporate customers, as well as products in the specialty risks market.
In Ireland the company’s products include property, motor, travel, agricultural and business insurance and its health insurance business products for both the personal and commercial sector.
The company’s personal products are sold directly to customers over the phone and through its Websites, via brokers and through corporate partnerships. Its Quotemehappy and General Accident insurance products are also available through price comparison Websites. For commercial insurance, it focuses on broker distribution.
Competition: In the U.K. the company’s main competitors are Direct Line Group, RSA, The Admiral Group, AXA, Zurich, LV, Allianz, Ageas and NFU. In Ireland, its competitors include RSA, AXA, Zurich, FBD, Allianz, Liberty and AIG.
France
The company has a significant presence in the French Life insurance market and the company operates through two main companies, including Aviva Vie and Antarius (JV structure with Crédit Du Nord).
Strategy: The company’s strategy is to deliver sustainable dividends to group by increasing profitability in its life business and targeted growth in profitable general insurance segments.
The company provides a range of insurance solutions, such as life and long-term savings, general and health insurance and asset management through Aviva Investors France. The company sells long-term savings, pensions and regular premium products, with a focus on the unit-linked market and a range of protection products, primarily for individuals. The company has a relationship with the Association Française d'Epargne et de Retraite (AFER) which is a retirement savings association in France. In the general insurance market, its product range includes household, motor, health and legal protection products and also a range of insurance products for small to medium sized entities, farms, craftsmen and tradesmen, and specific products for building firms and motor fleets.
Distribution: The company has developed a multi-distribution model combining retail, direct and bancassurance networks through owned distribution channels, independent networks and partnerships. Its retail network sells through approximately 920 tied agents, a direct sales force made up of approximately 1,200 Union Financière de France (UFF) consultants and direct advisors, and through brokers in the life, health and construction markets. Direct distribution is managed through the Eurofil brand for personal general insurance, the Aviva Direct brand for protection and Epargne Actuelle for the AFER product. The company operates in the bancassurance market through its partnership with Crédit Du Nord, a subsidiary of Societe Generale, selling life, savings and protection products.
Poland
The company offers general insurance services in Poland. The company’s life business in Poland provides a range of protection, savings and pension products, as well as health insurance. For institutions, the company offers group life insurance and employee pension programs, which are both unit-linked products. The company offers a standard product as part of its privately managed Pillar II pensions business. The company offers general insurance products to both commercial entities and individuals. For individuals, the company offers home, accident and travel insurance, which are primarily sold by tied agents, as well as motor insurance, which is sold primarily through its direct operation. For institutions, the company offers selected commercial lines risks.
The company has a relationship is with Bank Zachodni WBK (a subsidiary of Banco Santander) that sells both life and general insurance products through the bank's network of approximately 723 branches. In addition, in July 2015, the company acquired Expander Advisors, the major network of IFAs in Poland. The company also co-operates with independent insurance agencies and brokers. The company’s mutual funds are also sold in brokerage houses and its individual products are supported by call centre and Website sales.
Italy, Spain and Other
Italy: The company has approximately 2.2 million customers across both the life and general insurance businesses in Italy. Its life business offers a range of products covering protection, savings and pensions, with a continued focus on less capital intensive products, to optimise the product mix. The company has reviewed its unit linked product range, and improved its protection offering for both retail and bancassurance networks. As part of its household insurance offering, the company launched a new ‘connected house’ product sold by agents, which includes a ‘white box’ capable of alerting the client in case of water damage, presence of gas or smoke etc. In addition, it launched a new health product sold both through Banco Popolare and its retail network.
The company’s products are distributed through bancassurance partnerships with UniCredit Group, Banco Popolare Group and UBI Banca. These partnerships give the company access to approximately 3,500 branches. In addition, the company has approximately 1,500 active financial advisors, and a retail network of c.700 insurance (multi-mandate) agents and brokers as of June 30, 2015.
Spain: The company sells protection, long-term savings and pensions, health and accident insurance through a bancassurance network based on joint ventures with three banks. The company also sells through Aviva Vida y Pensiones, the wholly-owned Aviva branded long-term insurance company and through its Spanish mutual insurance company, Pelayo.
The company offers a range of bonds, savings, and protection products. Investment products include both unit linked and traditional plans, where profit sharing is regularly used to increase the policy return. The company’s traditional plans include savings schemes and income products. Pension savings products have valuable tax advantages. The company offers a flexible range of individual and group pension plans with alternative investment choices. It also provides protection products, covering both mortgages and credit loans, typically providing cover for the family.
Strategy: The company’s strategy is to maintain the franchise value in Spain and to further develop its retail operations with new distribution agreements.
Other: The Italy, Spain, and Other segment includes the company’s business in Turkey. The company's business in Turkey sells life and savings products, including unit-linked pensions through its life joint venture, AvivaSA.
Canada
Through its distribution partners, the company provides a range of personal and commercial lines general insurance products to approximately 2.8 million policyholders.
The general insurance products that the company provides through its Canadian companies include personal, home and motor insurance; small and medium-size enterprise commercial insurance, including motor, property, liability, boiler and machinery, and surety; and personal insurance products, including holiday trailers, boats, as well as antique, classic and custom cars. Independent brokers are the company’s major distribution channel, with 1,500 independent group and retail brokers distributing its core personal and commercial line products.
Asia
In Singapore, the company’s life business is an insurer in the market, providing employee benefit and individual life insurance through diversified distribution channels. The company also has general insurance operations in Singapore and offers online personal motor insurance.
In China, through its 50% joint venture with COFCO Capital Investment Co., Ltd, the company offers life insurance services. The company has a presence in 12 provinces and approximately 50 branches. The company operates a multi-distribution platform, including agency, bancassurance, direct marketing, and brokerage channels offering a range of protection and savings products.
In Indonesia, the company, through its 50% joint venture with PT Astra International Tbk, distributes its products primarily through its bancassurance arrangement with Permata Bank that was launched in December 2014.
In Taiwan and Vietnam, through its joint ventures with First Financial Holdings Co., Ltd and Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade, respectively, the company intends to grow its bancassurance businesses and continue the diversification of its distribution networks.
In Hong Kong, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary operates primarily through IFA distribution networks. In India, with a distribution network of 121 branches, the company operates in partnership with the Dabur Group through a 26% interest in Aviva Life Insurance Company India Ltd.
Friends Provident International Limited (FPIL), an Isle of Man-based company with operations in Asia, was acquired in April 2015 as part of the acquisition of Friends Life. FPIL offers a range of products, including single premium investment products, regular premium savings plans, and individual assurance policies.
The company’s Asian businesses offer a range of protection, savings, and pension products, including universal life, participating and non-participating endowments, unit-linked single and regular premium life insurance, and a range of accident and health insurance products.
In Singapore, the company operates across multiple proprietary and affinity channels, and also owns a majority interest in Professional Investment Advisory Services Pte Ltd, a financial advisory firm. In China, its products are sold mainly through agents, telemarketing, and bancassurance. In Indonesia, individual business is primarily sold through its bancassurance channel and group business is sold through its direct sales force. In Taiwan bancassurance is the company’s main distribution channel and its products are also sold through direct marketing. In Vietnam, its products are sold through bancassurance and agents. The company is also investing in other channels, such as direct marketing and digital. In Hong Kong, it operates primarily through IFA networks. FPIL’s products are targeted towards affluent expatriate individuals and are sold through distribution hubs in Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
Aviva Investors
Aviva Investors offers a range of fund management services, operating in the U.K., Europe, North America and Asia. The company’s major clients include long-term insurance, savings, and general insurance businesses, to whom the company provides bespoke asset management services across various asset classes.
The company provides external clients with bespoke segregated solutions or offer access to various fund ranges. The company’s principal target clients for the larger segregated solutions tend to be large pension funds and financial institutions, such as insurance companies and banks.
The company’s products cover a range of asset classes. In Europe, the company has a range of SICAVs (Sociétés d’Investissement a Capital Variable) (open-ended collective investment schemes), which are domiciled in France, Luxembourg, and Poland. These funds have different share classes depending on the size and type of investor.
In the U.K., the company largely sells segregated mandates and specialist funds to pension schemes, local authorities and insurance companies. The company also supplies products to the retail and wholesale markets, principally through U.K. domiciled bond, real estate, equity, multi-asset and multi-strategy OEIC funds. In addition, the company has a range of pooled pension funds which are aimed at the smaller pension fund market. The company also has a range of specialist property funds, six money market funds domiciled in Dublin and Paris, and also offers feeder funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands for the U.S. and Australian investors.
The company manages relationships with a range of clients, including corporate and public sector pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, charities, insurance companies, wealth managers and national and local government bodies. The company’s distribution model for its open-ended collective investment schemes focuses on wholesale distributors, asset allocators and small to mid-size institutional investors. In the U.K., its retail products are promoted to investors through independent financial advisors, fund platforms, fund supermarkets and discretionary asset managers. In the United States, it has a strategic partnership with Virtus Investment Partners, which provides its strategies to the U.S. customers in U.S. open-ended mutual funds.
The company’s property funds are targeted at specialist real estate buyers and large institutions (mostly pension funds and local authorities), and its money market funds are sold by a specialist sales team and target corporate treasury functions.
Strategy: The company’s strategy is to offer a range of investment propositions that deliver outcomes that its clients value.
History
The company was formerly known as CGNU plc and changed its name to Aviva plc in 2002.
