Aviva Plc history, profile and history video
Aviva Plc is a holding company, which provides customers with long-term insurance and savings, general and health insurance, and fund management products and services. It operates its business through the following geographical segments: the United Kingdom and Ireland, France, Canada, Italy, Spain, and others. The United Kingdom and Ireland segment comprises two operating segments: Life and General Insurance. The Life segment operations are life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings, pensions and annuity business and health in the UK. The General Insurance segment provides insurance cover to individuals and businesses, for risks associated mainly with motor vehicles, property and liability and medical expenses. The France segment operations are long-term business and general insurance. The long-term business offers a range of long-term insurance and savings products, primarily for individuals, with a focus on the unit-linked market. The general insurance business predominantly sells personal and small commercial lines insurance products through agents and a direct insurer. The Canada segment engaged in the general insurance operations, which provides personal and commercial lines insurance products through a range of distribution partners. The Italy segment operations are long-term business and general insurance. The life business offers a range of long-term insurance and savings products, and the general insurance business provides motor and home insurance products to individuals, as well as small commercial risk insurance to businesses. The Spanish segment operation is the sale of long-term business, accident and health insurance and a selection of savings products. Aviva was founded on May 30, 2000, and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Aviva History
Aviva can trace its history back to the establishment of the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society in London in 1696.
It was created by a merger of two British insurance firms, Norwich Union and CGU plc (itself created by the 1998 merger of Commercial Union and General Accident) as CGNU in 2000. The Aviva name was adopted in July 2002. Thereafter, most of the group operations, except for some strong local brands, were carried out under the uniform brand “Aviva”.
In March 2005, Aviva acquired the RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for around £1.1 billion.
In July 2006, Aviva greatly increased its presence in the United States by acquiring AmerUs Group, a Des Moines-based financial services company founded in 1896 in a $2.9 billion (£1.6 billion) deal. AmerUs Group was rebranded as Aviva USA when the acquisition was completed.
The Company continued to use the Norwich Union name as a trading name in the UK until 1 June 2009 when it became formally known as Aviva within the United Kingdom. The launch was supported by a £9 million advertising campaign to promote the rebranding (one of the most expensive ever in the UK insurance field), with the participation of celebrities including Bruce Willis and Alice Cooper.
In June 2009 the Company decided to dispose of Navigator, its Australian wealth management business, to National Australia Bank for A$825 million (£401 million).
In October 2009 the company decided to focus on its commercial insurance sector and demonstrate its commitment to brokers by launching their ‘find a broker’ facility, using the British Insurance Brokers Association search engine. To help them with this endeavor, Paul Whitehouse was recruited to play the part of a successful hairdresser running three salons. The message of the campaign focused on business insurance through insurance brokers. The closing line of the campaign was “We’re in business to keep you in business”.
In September 2011, Aviva completed the sale of RAC plc breakdown recovery operation for £1.0 billion to The Carlyle Group.
In February 2012, Aviva sold its occupational health business to the British support services company Capita.
In July 2012, Aviva announced plans to sell or close 16 non-core businesses in order to simplify its activities and boost shareholder returns. As part of the plans, Aviva announced the sale of its operations in South Korea and the closure to new business of its bulk-buying annuity unit in the United Kingdom.
In August 2012, Aviva announced that up to 800 jobs would be lost following a reorganization caused by further turmoil in the Eurozone.
In December 2012, Aviva agreed to sell Aviva USA Corporation to Athene Holding for US$1.8 billion (£1.1 billion) as part of a plan to improve shareholder returns and reduce the group’s capital requirements. Athene subsequently sold the life insurance business of Aviva to Atlantic Global.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org and www.aviva.com
**Video published on YouTube by “Aviva“