11. Exceptional items

11 – Exceptional items

Exceptional items for the year totalled a positive £45 million, including £207 million as a result of the reattribution of the inherited estate and a £102 million expense for the migration (including associated system changes) of all remaining local brands, except Delta Lloyd and RAC, to the single global Aviva brand, which has been largely implemented over the two year period 2008 to 2009 and a £60 million expense for the strengthening of reserves in respect of several specific discontinued commercial liability risks written in Canada a significant number of years ago.

Exceptional items for 2008 were £551 million loss. These included £142 million for the cost of transferring the Lifetime wrap platform to a third party supplier, write-down in preparation for sale of the British School of Motoring in the UK and closure of the structured settlement business in the US. The costs also included £304 million after reinsurance for the discounted cost of strengthening our latent claims provisions, mainly in the UK, and £126 million for the settlement agreed by our Netherlands life business for its unit-linked policyholders, following an industry-wide challenge on the level of fees. The remaining balance relates to brand migration costs of £37 million offset by £58 million benefit from settlement of a disputed Australian tax liability and the consequent release of a provision for interest charges.