Life Insurance Comparison

Life Insurance Companies

Life insurance companies come in all shapes and sizes. Some companies specialise in life insurance and critical illness cover, and some companies tack their life insurance operation on to the side of a much bigger general insurance operation, (that's car and home insurance usually).

Customers often ask which is the best life insurance company for them. This is a difficult question as for some customers it could be that the top life insurance company by premium would be best, but for other customers it could be that the life insurance company with the most flexible underwriting is best.

Often customers will approach an adviser and receive advice about which company and which policy type is best. Advisers don't work for nothing and their fees are usually paid for by higher commission payments from higher customer premiums. Websites like payingtoomuch.com are designed for customers who know what they want, either because they can read up on the policy features and benefits themselves and decide or because they have sought advice from elsewhere.

Either way here is a list of the life insurance companies you are most likely to come across online in the UK life insurance market.

The Top Life Insurance Companies in the UK

Aegon

In the UK Aegon Life Insurance Company (previously known as Scottish Equitable) are headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. They have around 2 million customers and employ around 3,500 staff.

The worldwide headquarters for Aegon N.V. is in The Hague in the Netherlands. Aegon worldwide employs around 27,500 people and has around 40 million customers. Its main operations are in the Unites States, Netherlands and the UK, but it also operates in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain, China, Japan and India.

In India, Aegon partnered with an Indian business to create Aegon Religare and were one of the first to introduce an automated underwriting service into the Indian market with considerable success.

In 1999 Aegon acquired the business of another well know UK insurer Guardian Royal Exchange (GRE).

Ageas

Ranked among the top 20 insurance companies in Europe, Ageas is the 2nd largest player in private car insurance in the UK. Ageas have been innovating and launched Low Start Life Insurance (available through payingtoomuch.com) which matches premium rates more closely to actual age, rather than using an average age over the policy. More recently they have launched a Guaranteed Acceptance Life Insurance through Asda which is expected to be rolled out through other intermediaries in the near future.

Aviva

Aviva is the 6th largest insurance company in the world and has 53 million customers in 28 countries. Aviva is made up of a number of different insurers which have merged over recent years. (More info about Aviva...)

Bright Grey

Bright Grey is a specialist protection business and is a division of Royal London who are the largest mutual life and pensions company in the UK. Bright Grey Life Insurance was set up in March 2003 by Royal London probably as a result of Royal London failing at the time to acquire Scottish Provident Life Insurance Company in 2001.

Bright Grey Life Insurance Company is best known within the financial services community as a specialist in life insurance and critical illness cover. They are less adept at dealing with customers direct.

Bupa Life

Bupa Individual Protection is a division of Bupa Health Assurance Limited, part of the Friends Provident group. The Bupa life insurance business was acquired by Resolution in 2011 and added to Friends Provident Life Insurance Company and AXA's UK business to create Friends Life.

It is possible that the Bupa brand may disappear in the medium term as Resolution consolidates it's acquisitions in the months ahead as there appears to be a significant crossover between Bupa, AXA and Friends Life.

Friends Life

Friends Life brings together the UK operations of Friends Provident and the life assurance businesses acquired from Bupa and AXA UK. (More info about Friends Life...)

Legal and General

Legal & General now listed on the London Stock Exchange, was started in London 1836 and has since grown into one of the UK's best known insurance brands. (More info about Legal & General...)

Liverpool Victoria

Started in 1843 as Liverpool Victoria, LV= are the UK's largest friendly society. LV= has no shareholders, they are owned by their members. (More info about Liverpool Victoria...)

LV= are building on their roots in the door to door premium collection market where agents used to collect premiums personally at the door each week to become one of the most trusted online insurance brands in the UK.

PruProtect Life

PruProtect is a business partnership between Prudential and Discovery (a leading protection specialist from South Africa).

PruProtect Life Insurance are innovating in the area of critical illness protection which they call Serious Illness cover. (More info about PruProtect...)

Scottish Provident Life Insurance Company

Scottish Provident is a division of the Royal London Group, who are the largest mutual life and pensions company in the UK.

Scottish Provident were bought by Abbey National in 2001 and then sold by Abbey to Resolution in 2006. Then in 2008 Resolution sold Scottish Provident to Royal London Life Insurance Company to further their ambitions in the life insurance, critical illness and income protection markets.

Royal London set up Bright Grey Life Insurance Company in 2003 as a result of failing in their then bid to acquire Scottish Provident Life Insurance Company in 2001. Now by a twist of fate they own both the business they really wanted plus the new business they started instead!

Clearly there is likely to be much cross over for Royal London and there is speculation about which brand will be a survivor in 10 years' time.

Zurich

Zurich (Group) was founded in 1872, and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. It employs approximately 60,000 people serving customers in more than 170 countries. Zurich's recent history in the UK was to acquire British American Financial Services in 1998 which included such brands as Eagle Star Life Insurance Company, and Allied Dunbar Life Insurance Company.