RSA Insurance Group Limited (
trading as
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market.
An early form of trade, barter, s ...
RSA, formerly RSA Insurance Group plc and Royal and Sun Alliance) is a British
multinational general insurance
General insurance or non-life insurance policy, including automobile and homeowners policies, provide payments depending on the loss from a particular financial event. General insurance is typically defined as any insurance that is not determine ...
company headquartered in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England. RSA has major operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia & Canada. It provides insurance products and services in more than 100 countries through a network of local partners. It has 9 million customers.
RSA was formed by the merger of
Sun Alliance and
Royal Insurance
Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.
History
Formation and e ...
in 1996.
RSA was listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
until it was acquired by Danish insurer
Tryg
Tryg A/S is a Scandinavian insurance company present in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The company is the largest provider of general insurance services in the Nordic countries and is listed on Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen.
History
The current com ...
and Canada's
Intact Financial Corporation in May 2021. The transaction closed on 1 June 2021.
History
RSA was formed by the merger of
Sun Alliance and
Royal Insurance
Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.
History
Formation and e ...
in 1996.
On 4 February 2014, it was announced that
Stephen Hester, former CEO of
RBS Group
NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...
would become CEO of RSA with immediate effect.
In 2014/15 Hester led a major restructuring of RSA to bolster its finances. Many non-core overseas operations were sold, disposals almost halving the size of the group, with the aim of aligning its strategic focus with its core markets.
In September 2015, RSA divested all its Latin American insurance operations to the
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
n insurance company
Grupo Sura for
£403 Million.
In November 2020, the company received a £7.2 billion offer from Danish insurer
Tryg
Tryg A/S is a Scandinavian insurance company present in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The company is the largest provider of general insurance services in the Nordic countries and is listed on Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen.
History
The current com ...
and Canada's
Intact Financial Corporation. This deal is considered one of the biggest takeover bids in Europe in 2020. The transaction closed on 1 June 2021; under the deal, Intact acquired the main international RSA entity as well as its businesses in Canada and the UK, while Tryg took control of RSA's units in Sweden and Norway. Intact and Tryg initially took joint control of RSA's Danish subsidiary Codan Denmark, but shortly thereafter announced plans to sell it to
Alm. Brand
Alm. Brand (until 2002 Alm. Brand af 1792) is a Danish financial services group operating within the markets for non-life, life and pension insurance.
History
The company was founded in 1792 and its activities were originally limited to mutual ...
.
File:Royal Insurance War Memorial.JPG,
File:SunFireMarkBedfordMuseum.JPG,
File:AllianceInsuranceMark.JPG,
File:Royal Insurance Co logo 1857.jpg,
Fire insurance receipt, 1912-1913, for the Harlington, Harmondsworth and Cranford Cottage Hospital, issued by the Sun Insurance Office, London.jpg,
File:Royal and Sun Alliance logo.svg,
File:RSA.svg,
Operations
RSA operates in 28 countries and provides insurance products and services in more than 140 through a global network of local partners. It has over 20 million customers around the world.
RSA is the second-largest general insurer in the United Kingdom. Its global headquarters are in the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
on 20
Fenchurch Street
Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...
occupying floors 15-17 of the 'walkie-talkie' building. Its UK registered office is 20 Fenchurch St,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Other key UK offices are located in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
,
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 ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
,
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
,
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
,
Halifax,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, and
Horsham
Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
. RSA, including its "More Than" brand, announced itself to be the first
carbon neutral
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...
insurance company in the UK on 2 December 2006.
RSA owns the More Than direct
car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
,
home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
,
pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...
and
travel insurance
Travel insurance is an insurance product for covering unforeseen losses incurred while travelling, either internationally or domestically. Basic policies generally only cover emergency medical expenses while overseas, while comprehensive policies ...
brand in the United Kingdom, recognised widely for its former Lucky The Dog advertisements and its "MORE IS ..." campaign.
More Than
The greater-than sign is a mathematical symbol that denotes an inequality between two values. The widely adopted form of two equal-length strokes connecting in an acute angle at the right, , has been found in documents dated as far back as the 1 ...
also sells van, business car, shops and offices and business insurance through its More Than Business operation. RSA also owns the CODAN brand in Denmark and Norway, Johnson brand in Canada, 123+ brand in Ireland, Trygg-Hansa brand in Sweden, Al-Alamiya in Saudi Arabia, Al-Ahlia in Oman and the Motability and Insurance Corporation brands in the UK.
Offices
Asia
* Bahrain
* India
* Oman
* Saudi Arabia
* United Arab Emirates
North America and Caribbean
* Canada
* USA
Europe
* United Kingdom
* Ireland
* France
* Germany
* Spain
* Belgium
* Denmark
* Sweden
* Norway
Controversies
Three former RSA Insurance Ireland staff have been fined a combined £182,000 (€206,090) under sanctions tied to an investigation by a UK accounting watchdog into financial irregularities at the firm in 2012.
Asbestos liabilities
In January 2002 Royal & Sun Alliance became involved in litigation over claims for injury arising from
asbestosis
Asbestosis is long-term inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the human lung, lungs due to asbestos, asbestos fibers. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest pain, chest tightness. Complications may include ...
among workers in
Clyde Clyde may refer to:
People
* Clyde (given name)
* Clyde (surname)
Places
For townships see also Clyde Township
Australia
* Clyde, New South Wales
* Clyde, Victoria
* Clyde River, New South Wales
Canada
* Clyde, Alberta
* Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...
shipyards. The workers alleged that between 1972 and 1977 RSA had issued insurance certificates to asbestos manufacturer
Turner & Newall
Turner & Newall was a manufacturing business based in Manchester, United Kingdom. At its peak, it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. As part of their business, the company was one of the first ...
but excluded cover for asbestosis, in breach of the
Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. RSA responded that asbestos-related injury was excluded from the policy because it was a risk the company was not willing to underwrite, that Turner & Newall was instead self-insured against asbestosis and should therefore be responsible for any compensation.
In February 2002 RSA set aside
£384 million to double its reserves available for asbestos claims which, combined with claims of
£215 million arising from the
11 September attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...
, wiped out its 2001 profits. RSA put up seven of its subsidiaries for sale in an attempt to raise a further
£800 million to cover liabilities for asbestos insurance claims in the United States.
Friends Ivory & Sime subsequently acquired RSA's UK asset management subsidiary in May 2002 for £240 million.
[ The situation was further compounded by RSA having to reserve £1.2 billion against liabilities for guaranteed annuities, the product which caused the collapse of Equitable Life, and was also facing a fine from the ]Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...
for failure to meet the deadline in the pension mis-selling review. Two months later 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 ...
acquired RSA's offshore life unit International Financial Services Limited, based on the Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
, for £133 million. In July 2002 RSA sold its group risk business to Canada Life
The Canada Life Assurance Company, commonly known as Canada Life, is an insurance and financial services company with its headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The current company is the result of the 2020 amalgamation of The Great-West Life Assura ...
for £60 million. RSA was forced to close its life business, with the loss of 1,200 jobs, in August 2002.
In November 2002 Turner & Newall launched a suit against RSA on behalf of former employees who had suffered asbestos-related disease, claiming that the insurer was liable because it provided employer liability policies to the engineering firm. In an effort to reduce costs, RSA chairman Sir Patrick Gillam said it would sell its US business RSUI and "float most of its Asia Pacific operations", bringing total job losses in the UK to 4000. The case was heard at the High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...
in January 2003. RSA argued that a policy clause which excluded cover for pneumoconiosis
Pneumoconiosis is the general term for a class of interstitial lung disease where inhalation of dust ( for example, ash dust, lead particles, pollen grains etc) has caused interstitial fibrosis. The three most common types are asbestosis, silicos ...
also excluded other asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
-related disease such as asbestosis
Asbestosis is long-term inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the human lung, lungs due to asbestos, asbestos fibers. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest pain, chest tightness. Complications may include ...
and peritoneal mesothelioma. Colin Edelman QC, representing T&N, told Mr Justice Lawrence Collins that the defence which RSA had the "temerity" to put forward was "just ridiculous" and that the insurer was trying to "wriggle out of its liability". On 9 May 2003 the court ruled that RSA was liable for the compensation claims. In September 2003 RSA cut 1,000 jobs in the UK and asked shareholders for £960 million to cover further asbestos claims.
Inflated repair costs
In September 2011, Judge Platt of the Romford County Court in his judgement attacked the method in which RSA recovered their costs by putting a subsidiary within the motor claims process to inflate profits. Several insurers are now refusing to pay RSA's requests for payment without sight of the original invoice. On 15 June 2012, RSA Insurance was successful in a High Court ruling; the company said the ruling meant "its practices have been deemed legal and its stance vindicated". Within hours, Allianz Insurance lodged an appeal against RSA. Since then RSA has started to make bilateral agreements, the first announced on 29 June 2012 with Cooperative Insurance.
Hillsborough disaster
A fatal event at an English FA Cup match, widely known as the Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the ...
, implicated RSA. A human crush
Crowd collapses and crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When a body of people reaches or exceeds the density of , the pressure on each individual can cause the crowd to collapse ...
resulted in 97 fatalities and 766 injured persons. The Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Company (which, as Sun Alliance, was the insurer for Sheffield Wednesday Football Club
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot o ...
in 1989) refused to waive its entitlement to privilege, thus denying the Hillsborough Independent Panel access to its material. Strenuous efforts were made to persuade the company to allow the Panel confidential access to the material, but it maintained its refusal. RSA were entitled to do this as they are under no obligation to release information relating to the amount of compensation paid out to victims and families; in any case the release of that information would not have affected the result on who was to blame for the Hillsborough disaster.
See also
* List of companies based in London
This is a list of companies in London, England. London is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. With an estimated 8,308,369 residents in 2012, London is the most populous region, urban zone and metropolitan area in the United ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rsa Insurance Group
Financial services companies established in 1996
Insurance companies of the United Kingdom
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Financial services companies based in the City of London
British companies established in 1996
1996 establishments in England
2021 mergers and acquisitions
Rothschild family
Insurance companies of Canada
Insurance companies of Ireland
British subsidiaries of foreign companies