Friends Provident

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Friends Provident plc

Type	Public (LSE: FP.)
Founded	1832
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Key people	Adrian Montague (Chairman), Trevor Matthews, (Group Chief Executive)
Products	Insurance, Inheritance tax products, Investment Management Pensions
Revenue	£2,506 million (2007)
Operating income	£(113) million (2007)
Net income	£(70) million (2007)
Website	www.fp.com

Friends Provident plc (LSE: FP.) manages a life assurance business mainly based in the United Kingdom and with offices throughout the world.

Friends Provident is a financial services group^{[citation needed]} and a member of the FTSE100 Index. With a history dating back to 1832, Friends Provident has three core businesses:

The UK Life and Pensions business markets a range of life protection, income protection, pensions and investment products for individual customers and corporate clients throughout the UK.

The International Life and Pensions business operates throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and incorporates the Luxemburg based company Lombard International who specialise in providing life assurance based estate planning solutions.

The Asset Management business - F&C Asset Management plc - manages funds of some £107bn (as at 30 June 2006) and markets a range of investment products both to personal and institutional customers.

1 History
2 Ethical stance
3 Sports sponsorships
4 Global company
5 Members of the Friends Provident Group
6 External links
7 References

[edit] History

Friends Provident has been in operation since 1832. In 1992, Friends Provident was a foundation partner in the Eureko Alliance in association with AVCB (The Netherlands), Topdanmark (Denmark) and Wasa (Sweden). As part of this alliance, Friends Provident passed all of its then non UK subsidiaries (primarily in Australia and Canada) into Eureko. From its creation and until 2001, Friends Provident was a mutual society. Its status as a mutual society was affirmed by the Friends Provident Act of Parliament. In July 2001 it went through a process or demutualisation and has been a member of the FTSE 100 Index ever since.

The Company was founded in Bradford by Quakers to provide life assurance for their members^[1]. The office was originally located above a sweet shop.

The head office is now located at 100 Wood Street in London. The registered office is at Pixham End, Dorking in Surrey. It is a member of the Association of British Insurers and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

On January 21, 2008 JC Flowers made a bid of £4bn (175p per share) informal offer for the company^[2].

[edit] Ethical stance

Friends Provident prides itself on its ethical stance^{[citation needed]}. It was the first investment house to offer a fully ethical investment fund called the Stewardship fund.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sports sponsorships

Friends Provident has signed a three year deal to sponsor the domestic one-day cricket competition, The Friends Provident Trophy.

Friends Provident sponsored Southampton F.C. and help finance the building of St Mary's Stadium, until 2006.

[edit] Global company

Friends Provident has large offices in a number of locations including Manchester, Clyst St. Mary in Exeter, Preston and Dorking, and is the second largest employer in Salisbury. There are also a few smaller area offices such as those in Sale, Greater Manchester and Preston.

Internationally Friends Provident has offices in Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.

[edit] Members of the Friends Provident Group

Friends Provident Life and Pension Limited - Provides life, pension and investment services within the UK
Friends Provident Life Assurance Limited - Provides life and investment services worldwide under English and Guernsey law.
Friends Provident International Limited - Formerly Royal and Sun Alliance International but was taken over in 2003. Provides life and investment services worldwide and operates under the law of the Isle of Man.
F&C Asset Management plc - Provides asset management services for retail and institutional investors including investment management of "in-house" Friends Provident life and pension funds.
Lombard International Insurance S.A. - Acquired in 2005, providers of high-end Investment and life cover. Inventors and developers of the privatbancassurance concept. Lombard is based in Luxembourg and deals globally.

Friends Provident have merged with and taken over many insurers including: United Kingdom Provident, National Mutual of Australasia (UK and Ireland), and London and Manchester Assurance. The latter was split into two and half was sold on to Royal Liver Assurance.