Scottish Friendly to run NU Lifetime wrap

Norwich Union has announced it will transfer its problematic Lifetime wrap business onto Scottish Friendly’s platform proposition.

In a move expected to cause a number of job losses at NU, Scottish Friendly's wrap will take on Lifetime’s high net worth business and run its back-office administration.

The transfer is expected to complete by early 2009, with NU pledging to make “significant investments” to IT infrastructure over the next three to five years.

NU says working with Scottish Friendly will enable more simplified operations and reduced costs.

“We understand that this decision causes uncertainty for our staff. However it is too early to give an indication of the likely number of redundancies,” Lifetime managing director Toby Strauss says.

“Our priority will be to keep employees fully informed throughout this process and we will do everything we can to minimise the impact of this decision.

“We have built up valuable experience and knowledge in this area and will seek to minimise any impact through natural turnover, not filling vacancies and redeployment where possible.”