Legal & General Group Plc (“Legal & General”) has today announced the formation of a new division: Legal & General Insurance (LGI), under the leadership of Bernie Hickman. Hickman will serve as CEO of the combined UK and US insurance division.
Legal & General has successfully built Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Legal & General Retirement (LGR) into international growth businesses. LGIM entered the US with $18 billion in funds in 2005. It now manages $133 billion for over 180 clients. LGR did its first pension de-risking transaction in 2015 in the US, and now has written over $500 million in pension transactions, and made its first infrastructure investment there.
The new insurance division will have over seven million customers in UK and the US, and provide life insurance, critical illness cover, and income protection to individuals and company employees.
The UK insurance business is a multi-channel, multi-product business, using technology to deliver great customer service with cost and scale efficiencies. The new insurance division will aim to grow and develop its US business into a multi-channel and multi-product business, by leveraging its UK insurance expertise, scale, and technology in the US.
Nigel Wilson, group CEO, said: “Bernie is a proven successful leader. Legal & General has two large successful international businesses, Legal & General Investment Management, and Legal & General Retirement. We are now developing our third international business, our insurance business.”
Bernie Hickman, chief executive officer, Legal & General Insurance added: “The US, with our strong insurance franchise and international track record of LGIM and LGR, is a great place to build our insurance business. Technology is playing an ever-increasing role in all areas of the UK and US insurance markets, with digital marketing and straight through processing becoming ever more important. It’s therefore a great opportunity and an exciting time to combine our UK and US expertise, technology and insights, to grow our existing businesses and establish new, digital insurance businesses in selected international markets.”
Hickman was managing director, UK protection business from 2005 till 2010. He launched the UK protection digital platform, OLP Connect. It provides market leading self-service functionality and high levels of straight through processing. UK protection through organic growth now has a market share of over 25 percent. He became CEO of Legal & General Home Finance and MD of individual retirement in 2014, where he launched its digital platform for lifetime mortgages, achieving a 25 percent market share within the first year. He has also held the positions of group financial controller and investor relations director.
The UK retail protection business provides life insurance, critical illness coverage, and income protection to over four million customers, has over 25 percent market share, and 80 percent straight through processing. The group protection business provides two million company employees with life or income protection, and has over 15 percent market share. Legal & General America has over a million life insurance customers, and $1.2 billion of gross written premium.
Legal & General America’s newly formed executive committee, Jim Galli, Drew Love and Barbara Esau, will continue to guide the day-to-day operations of LGA.
