As part of its strategy to reduce its product range from over 300 to 65 and streamline its support for products and technology, Norwich Union is to withdraw PLANet, Connectivity* and Downstream
As part of its strategy to reduce its product range from over 300 to 65 and streamline its support for products and technology, Norwich Union is to withdraw PLANet, Connectivity* and Downstream.
The move begins in June and will last around a year. It will affect about 100 intermediaries, but has no impact on commercial transactions.
PLANet arrangements were put in place several years ago to enable intermediaries specialising in commercial insurance products to write additional personal lines business. As part of this, Norwich Union currently has around 100 staff based in intermediaries' offices. The insurer hopes that these staff will all be found alternative roles.
Connectivity and Downstream are smaller initiatives also based around facilities within intermediaries' offices.
According to intermediary business director Ken Wallace, the arrangements no longer make financial sense. He said: "Originally, these facilities were set up at a time when EDI was in its infancy and there were few alternatives. Today, 60 per cent of Norwich Union's business is via EDI and initiatives such as i2i-link will increase this even further. Bespoke IT systems and manual data input for small numbers of intermediaries are no longer viable."
"We are focusing our efforts on a single suite of market-leading products, supported by leading-edge IT platforms. We cannot commit to continuing to support a huge range of tailored products and systems."
He added that: "Intermediaries will have a number of options to replace these arrangements. We value our relationships with these intermediaries and will be having discussions with each one individually, to see which option is most appropriate for their needs and working with them to make the transition as smooth as possible."
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Media contact: Liz Nicholson - Norwich Union press office on 01603 688263
Notes to Editors
*personal lines and commercial motor only.
CGU and Norwich Union merged on 30 May to create CGNU plc - the world's sixth largest insurer, the UK's largest insurance group and one of the top five life insurers in Europe, with substantial positions in other markets around the world.
CGNU's principal business activities are long-term savings, general insurance and asset management with world-wide premium income and retail investment sales of Ł26 billion and assets under management of more than Ł200 billion.
The combined life and pensions, general insurance and retail fund businesses in the UK operate under the Norwich Union brand, while the institutional business operates under the Morley Fund Management brand.