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Encyclopedia > Norwich Union

Norwich Union is an insurance company in the UK. It is the biggest life-insurer in the UK, and has a strong position in motor insurance. It is part of the Aviva group, itself created by a merger of Norwich Union and CGU plc in 2000. Aviva continues to operate in the UK under the Norwich Union name. Norwich Union is currently the biggest sponsor of UK athletics. Insurance is a system to alleviate financial losses by transferring risk of loss from one entity to another. ... It has been suggested that Life assurance be merged into this article or section. ... Aviva plc (LSE: AV.) is the worlds fifth-largest insurance group and the biggest in the UK. It trails behind AXA, Allianz, ING and Fortis. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... UK Athletics is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. ...


History

Norwich Union was founded in 1797 in Norwich, when 36-year-old merchant and banker Thomas Bignold formed the "Norwich Union Society for the Insurance of Houses, Stock and Merchandise from Fire", a mutual society owned by the policyholders who received a share of the profits. This in turn became known as the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Office. 1797 (MDCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Shown within Norfolk Geography Status: City (1195) Government Region: East of England Administrative County: Norfolk Area: - Total Ranked 322nd 39. ...


In 1808 Thomas Bignold established a second mutual, the Norwich Union Life Insurance Society. The Fire Society demutualised in 1823 when it absorbed the Norwich General Assurance Company. In common with many insurance companies against fire loss, they operated their own fire brigades to protect (only) the society's policyholders whose buildings were identified by "fire marks". It was not until 1929 that the Fire Society gave up its last private brigade, in Worcester, to the municipal authorities. 1808 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The city of Worcester (pronounced ) is a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England, situated some 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Birmingham and 29 miles (47 km) north of Gloucester. ...


By the start of the 20th century, the various Norwich Union societies were operating worldwide, although the last two decades of the century saw a retrenchment and withdrawal from a number of markets seen as unstable, especially in Africa.


In 1997, its bicentenary year, Norwich Union demutualised and floated as a public limited company on the London Stock Exchange. Although it sold general insurance, motoring, healthcare and life policies - its wide range of products leading indirectly to its slogan no-one protects more - it was listed on the markets as a life company, and in recent years has been under some pressure from analysts to shed its general insurance arm.


In 2000, Norwich Union merged with CGU, which itself was formed from the merger of General Accident and Commercial Union in October 1998. The Norwich Union had tried to take over General Accident over 100 years earlier. CGU also offered a broad range of life and general insurance products, with a stronger global presence than the heavily UK-based Norwich Union. Upon merging they formed the group CGNU which went on to become the Aviva group. As of 2005, there are two companies operating in the UK under the Aviva umbrella that use the Norwich Union brand: Norwich Union Insurance (NUI) and Norwich Union Life (NUL). Outside the UK, the Aviva brand is dominant. Aviva plc (LSE: AV.) is the worlds fifth-largest insurance group and the biggest in the UK. It trails behind AXA, Allianz, ING and Fortis. ...


Recently, Norwich Union has introduced a novel type of auto insurance called "Pay as You Drive (PAYD)". A GPS and a cell phone are placed in a car and different risk factors (e.g. speed, distance, etc.) are directly monitored. The information is transmitted directly back to the insurance company. Drivers with low risk factors get a discount on their motor insurance premiums. There are several business method patents covering this invention. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... PAYD (or Pay As You Drive) means that the costs of motoring including motor insurance and road pricing are dependent upon vehicle usage, particularly distance travelled. ... Business method patents are a class of patents and one of many legal aspects of business. ...


External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Media Centre by Norwich Union UK: Homepage (230 words)
Norwich Union is the largest insurer in the UK.
Norwich Union insures one in five households, one in seven motor vehicles and more than 800,000 businesses in the UK.
Norwich Union is part of Aviva, the world's fifth-largest insurance group which has £364 billion* of assets under management.
Norwich Union (1066 words)
Norwich Union is to close two call centres next year with the loss of 210 jobs in Darlington and 120 jobs in Morecambe, in order to transfer some of its RAC insurance work to sites in Norwich and Bristol.
Norwich Union is to transfer 950 administration jobs to India and Sri Lanka during 2005, which is expected to involve 70 compulsory redundancies in Norwich and 60 in York.
Norwich Union is to invest £100m in a joint venture with the Mill Group in order to participate in private finance initiative projects, and its first contract is to provide a primary care facility for Bradford Community NHS Trust.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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