British life insurer Aviva is reportedly planning a demerger to split its insurance business in the UK to make it more agile, competitive and customer-focused.
According to reports, the company may split its operations into life and non-life.
The decision is expected to be announced as early as next week by its new CEO Maurice Tullochs.
Through the demerger, Tulloch aims to infuse new lease of life into the three century old company while also ensuring better management of each division, including underwriting and pricing.
In 2017, Aviva combined its two main insurance operations under the guidance of its former CEO Mark Wilson.
However, Tulloch wants to simplify the group structure. In an annual meeting last week, he reportedly remarked that the structure is “still too complex”.
Tulloch took the rein of Aviva in March this year. Subsequently, the company announced that it would launch be “a review of the UK businesses to ensure the appropriate management structure to build on that success for the future”.
It is expected that Tulloch will announce some cost-cutting measures to control its operational expenses. During last week’s annual meeting, Tulloch said that “our cost to income ratio is higher than it ought to be.”
In February, Aviva requested the High Court of England and Wales to grant permission for moving its assets totalling €9bn ($10.2bn) in Ireland amid uncertainty over Brexit.
