Royal Liver Assurance was a

friendly society A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal organization or ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purposes of insurance, pensions, savings or cooperative banking. It is a mutual org ...

with over 1.7 million members in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Subject to

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 ...

(FSA) approval, Royal Liver and its subsidiaries became part of the

Royal London Group The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, along with its subsidiaries, is the largest mutual insurer in the United Kingdom, with Group funds under management of over £150 billion. Group businesses provide around nine million policie ...

on 1 July 2011.

History

The Liverpool Lyver Burial Society was founded by a group of working men from

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 ...

in the Lyver Inn on 24 July 1850 to "provide for the decent interment of deceased members". By 1857 the Society had moved to its fourth head office and had expanded throughout the

. By the end of the 1890s a decision was taken to build what would become the

Royal Liver Building The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's '' Three Graces'', which line the ...

; it opened on 19 July 1911. William Field was a managing director of Royal Livers Friendly Society in 1911. His Father, John Field, born 1820 was an agent for the Society by 1860. William Field is pictured in the 150-year Commemorate Book put out by the Society. It is believed that one of the pillars of the Royal Liver Building has the family Motto "Fair Field No Favours" on it. William Field died in 1916 while still employed by the Society. It is believed that others of the Field family were also involved with the management of the Society during this time. During the 20th century, Royal Liver Assurance expanded to cover the whole of

and the UK. Today, Royal Liver Assurance employs around 900 people, has approximately 3.4 million policies in force for 1.7 million members and manages more than £3.7 billion in funds. The Royal Liver Assurance has operated a delegation system since 1886; today, there are about 230 or so elected delegates. The Royal Liver Poetry of Place competition sees schoolchildren write poems about their favourite Liverpool places, which are voted for by the public via the Royal Liver website.

Royal Liver Group

At the time of its acquisition by the Royal London Group in 2011 The Royal Liver Group consisted of: * Royal Liver Assurance Limited (RLAL), an Incorporated Friendly Society, founded in Liverpool in 1850 for the mutual benefit and financial security of local families. RLAL also traded under the names Progress (in the UK) and Caledonian Life (in Ireland). RLAL had two subsidiary companies: * Royal Liver Asset Managers in the UK * Citadel Financial Advice Limited in Ireland. Royal Liver previously had a

financial advisor A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...

company called ''Park Row'', however this was wound up following an investigation by the FSA. Although owned by Royal Liver, Citadel is an independent company offering financial advice on a wide range of issues and financial services in Ireland.

Takeover

In 2007, Royal London approached Royal Liver about a possible combination of their businesses, but Royal Liver decided to remain as an independent entity. Since then, however, the financial downturn hit the insurance industry hard. The FSA launched ''Project Chrysalis'', aimed at

mutual insurance A mutual insurance company is an insurance company owned entirely by its policyholders. Any profits earned by a mutual insurance company are either retained within the company or rebated to policyholders in the form of dividend distributions or re ...

companies. Companies were asked to hold more capital, and to either stop writing new policies, or justify that continuing selling new business wouldn't put existing policyholders at a disadvantage. At the time, it was anticipated that several mutuals would merge due to lack of capital. Royal Liver were then approached again by Royal London in February 2010. Talks continued for some time, and the board of Royal Liver agreed the terms of a potential merger in April 2011. The delegates of Royal Liver voted in favour of the merger at the AGM on 12 May 2011.Royal Liver press release – Delegates vote YES
/ref> The transfer to Royal London was completed on 1 July 2011.

References

{{reflist Financial services companies established in 1911 Financial services companies disestablished in 2011 Defunct companies based in Liverpool Friendly societies of the United Kingdom