Aviva Life Insurance today announced the appointment of Bert Paterson as managing director for its operations in India with effect from 1 September 2006. He will succeed Stuart Purdy.
Aviva Life Insurance today announced the appointment of Bert Paterson as managing director for its operations in India with effect from 1 September 2006. He will succeed Stuart Purdy.
Bert Paterson joined the Aviva group (General Accident) in 1986. In the early stages of his career he served in various roles in the actuarial, planning and strategy areas of the group. Following the creation of Aviva he worked in the group’s Corporate Office as director, group strategy.
Bert was appointed CEO, Aviva Turkey in October 2002. Before moving to Turkey, he was director, Aviva Europe. His responsibilities covered Aviva’s Life and General Insurance businesses in Ireland, Italy and Spain. Spain was an area of particular focus and included the development of our bancassurance partnerships with five Spanish Cajas (regional savings banks).
Speaking on the occasion, Bert Paterson said: “India is one of the fastest growing markets with tremendous potential for insurance business. Aviva India has been performing very well and has recorded triple digit growth year-on-year. I look forward to running the Indian operations and build on the strong foundation already laid by Stuart Purdy and the Aviva India team. I also hope that the Government will increase the FDI cap on insurance to 49% soon so that we can invest further and expand our operations in the country.”
Stuart Purdy said: “I am very happy that Bert Paterson is being appointed managing director of the Indian operations. He is the ideal candidate with such rich and varied experience. I am confident that under Bert’s leadership, Aviva India will continue to flourish”
Bert Paterson takes over from Stuart Purdy who launched the Aviva operations in India in 2002 and was responsible for the aggressive growth of the company in the formation years. Stuart Purdy is moving to Ireland in September 2006 to head Aviva’s Life operations and to take up the position of deputy chief executive of Hibernian Insurance Group, Ireland’s largest composite insurer.
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For further information, please contact:
Pooja Garg Khan
Aviva Life Insurance
Phone: 95124-2804141
E-mail: pooja.khan@avivaindia.com
Notes to editors:
About Aviva Life Insurance
Aviva Life Insurance is a joint venture between Dabur and Aviva. Current paid up capital amounts to 320 Crores. Dabur are the 74% shareholder and Aviva the 26% shareholder. Aviva plc is the UK’s largest insurance group and the world’s oldest insurance Group, with a history dating back to 1696. Today, it is the sixth largest insurer worldwide, with 30 million customers and Ł291 billion assets under management. Prior to nationalization, Aviva was the biggest of the foreign insurers operating in the Indian market.
Founded in 1884, Dabur is one of India’s oldest and largest groups of companies with the group’s consolidated annual sales in excess of Rs 1,537 crores. A professionally managed company it is the country’s leading producer of traditional healthcare products.
Aviva pioneered the concept of bancassurance in India, and has leveraged its global expertise in this area successfully in India. Bancassurance has been contributing close to 65% of the total sales of Aviva India. Through its branches and its bancassurance partner locations, Aviva products are available in 353 towns and cities across India.
Aviva’s products have been designed in a manner to provide customers flexibility, transparency and value for money. We have been among the first companies to introduce unit linked products in the market.
Aviva has a unique need based sales approach through the “financial health check” (FHC). The FHC is a free service administered by our FPAs (financial planning advisers) for a need-based analysis of the customer’s long-term savings and insurance needs. Depending on the life stage and earnings of the customer, the financial health check assesses and recommends the right insurance product for them.
Aviva is also keen to reach out to the underprivileged that have not had access to insurance so far. Through its association with BASIX (a micro financial institution) and other NGOs, it has been able to cover lakhs of lives.