End of An Epoch
Change is the norm of life and the same is true in the business sector. The insurance giant Aviva has declared that in the coming months it will phase out the name of Norwich Union from it’s products and consign one of the oldest names in the British financial sector to history.
Aviva was formed in 2000 by the merger between Norwich Union and CGU, and provides savings, investments and insurance. Now, however, the company is trying to consolidate all of its products and services under a single name to help it compete as a brand in the global market.
The firm says that over 60% of its business is now generated outside of the UK and that operating under the name Aviva would bring “global impact”. As part of the move, not only Norwich Union but also the Irish insurer Hibernian and Commercial Union will also be re-branded under the Aviva name.
More recently Norwich Union is better known for introducing a novel type of car insurance called Pay as You Drive. Under the policy a GPS receiver is placed in the car and various risk factors such as time of day, distance and mileage covered are monitored. The information is transmitted back to the insurance company. Drivers using their vehicles at low risk times of day or on low risk roads or driving low mileage get a discount on their motor insurance premiums.
Norwich Union was founded in Norwich (unsurprisingly) as far back as 1797 by a banker named Thomas Bignold and was the first company to offer individuals insurance against the risk of fire. Around ten years later he formed a second company that was known as the Norwich Union Life Insurance. Like many other insurance companies that protected against the risk of fire Norwich Union had it’s own fleet of fire engines that would only come out to houses owned by society policy holders.
It will take around two years for the name Norwich Union to disappear completely, and the move has been heralded as a further sign that financial institutions, wherever they are in the world, have to be global in order to successfully compete with other financial giants. As the recent credit crunch has demonstrated much of the developed world is inter-dependent for it’s financial well-being. Collapses in the US sub-prime lender market have led to a worldwide shortage of credit and hard times for financial institutions, and accordingly for customers.
Though the name Norwich Union is soon to disappear forever, the fact that even recently they have started a revolution in types of car insurance shows how much the market is constantly adapting to meet the demands of the times. When you are looking for car insurance, or in fact insurance of any type, make sure that you look far and wide, as there are policies that are perfect for you always waiting to be found.
