Sir Clive Cowdery (born 26 May 1963) is an English businessman and philanthropist who made a personal fortune in the

insurance industry Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, founding two FTSE100 insurers and a third insurer which has deployed circa $5bn in capital with $90bn in assets, and has since donated large amounts to charity, including the

Resolution Foundation The Resolution Foundation is an independent British think tank established in 2005. Its stated aim is to improve the standard of living of low- and middle-income families. Appointments In June 2015, the former Conservative MP David Willetts to ...

which he founded in 2005.

Early life

Born of Anglo Danish parentage in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England, in 1963, he is the second of five siblings. He was educated at Clevedon Comprehensive School (now Clevedon Community School), and earned three O-levels and no A-levels.

Career

Cowdery is founder and Executive Chairman of Resolution Life, a global life insurance group focusing on the acquisition and management of portfolios of life insurance policies. From 1998 to 2003, Cowdery was chairman and chief executive of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

Insurance Holdings, with operations in 12 countries in Europe. In 2003, Cowdery founded his private company Resolution, which invests in life insurance consolidation. Since then, Cowdery’s Resolution companies have deployed c.US$17bn of equity in the acquisition, reinsurance, consolidation and management of life insurance companies. Together, these companies have served the needs of c.13m policyholders while managing over US$365bn of assets. His first

Resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

vehicle consolidated four major UK closed life insurance companies from Royal Sun Alliance, Swiss Life, Britannic and Santander (Abbey National Life). The

FTSE100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

insurer was sold to

Pearl Group Phoenix Group Holdings plc (formerly Pearl Group plc) is a provider of insurance services based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was founded in 1857 as ...

in 2008. His second Resolution vehicle merged FTSE100 insurer

Friends Provident Friends’ Provident Insurance was a banking institution founded in 1832 to serve the needs of the Society of Friends (Quakers). Based in Bradford, it concentrated on sickness and annuity policies until its life fund acquired Century Insurance ...

with

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

's UK life business and other assets. The company was sold to

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

in 2015. These two completed projects made significant total returns for shareholders. His current business, Resolution Life, was founded in 2018 and today manages c.$90bn of assets, employs c.1,800 people and provide services to over 3m policyholders. It has operations in Bermuda, the U.K., the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, all focused on assisting the restructuring of the primary life insurance industry globally. According to The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'' in 2019 his net worth was estimated at £137 million.

Charitable works

Since formation of his Resolution vehicles Cowdery has devoted half of all proceeds to charity. The

, an independent social and economic research organisation set up by Cowdery in 2005, purports to be one of Britain's leading authorities on low earners and the policy responses required to lift their living standards.

Other professional interests

Cowdery is owner and publisher of the magazine '' Prospect'' and a member of the governing council of The

Institute for New Economic Thinking The Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) is a New York City–based nonprofit think tank. It was founded in October 2009 as a result of the 2007–2012 global financial crisis, and runs a variety of affiliated programs at major universitie ...

. Until February 2021, he was also a director of

Best for Britain Best for Britain is a civil society campaign, launched on 26 April 2017, to stop Brexit and continue the UK's membership of the European Union (EU). Since 2021, the organisation's aim has changed to encourage greater internationalism rather tha ...

, a group campaigning to stop

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

Honours

Cowdery was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to children and social mobility.

Personal life

Cowdery lives in London and has six children.

References

External links

Profile
in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Interview
from

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

Resolution Foundation
* https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/feb/28/clive-cowdery-goes-on-mission-to-help-poor {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowdery, Clive 1963 births Living people English businesspeople English philanthropists Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods English people of Danish descent Liberal Democrats (UK) donors