Royalsunalliance.co.uk is one of the world's largest international insurance groups. Their focus is predominantly upon property and casualty insurance but we do have a small number of life operations. They are among the top 3 of multinational property and casualty operations worldwide and have leading or significant market positions in the UK, USA, Canada and Scandinavia. They currently employ around 38,000 people, transact business in some 130 countries and have over 20 million customers around the globe.
Their business purpose is to help our customers around the world protect themselves against the risks they face in their businesses and daily lives by providing insurance and investment related solutions to meet their individual needs as they have done for nearly 300 years.
In November 2002 they announced a radical action plan for the Group including the sale or closure of some of their businesses in the UK and USA and a planned initial public offering of businesses in Australia and New Zealand, which together represent the majority of our Asia Pacific operations. The IPO was successfully completed on 16 May 2003. They anticipate completing the entire programme by the end of 2004.
The result of all these actions will be that they will become a smaller, more focussed general insurer, but we will still be a substantial international player with net written premiums of around £5.5bn and an international workforce of around 38,000.
Corporate History
"24 gentlemen of 'mixed social and professional background' put their hand to the incorporation of a Company 'commonly call'd the Sun Fire Office'. The date was 7 April 1710."
"On 11 March 1845 a group of prominent Liverpool merchants and businessmen formed a company - 'a Joint Stock Fire and Life Insurance Association' - called Royal."
The history of the Royal and SunAlliance is really the story of how insurance began and has prospered. The Sun was established in 1710 and is the oldest insurance company in existence still trading under its original name. The Alliance was founded in 1824 and the Royal in 1845.
The Group's UK operation has constantly evolved since the early incorporation of The Westminster Fire Office (est. in 1717), the London (est. 1720) and the Phoenix (est. 1782). The Group's international presence began to emerge in the 18th Century with business ventures in mainland Europe.
A presence in the US and Canadian markets and in South America, Australia, and Africa was established in the 19th Century. They also operated in India and China from 1852 until nationalisation and were the first UK general insurance company to return to both markets, re-opening in China in 1998 and in India in 2000.
Royalsunalliance.co.uk, as they know it today, was created in 1996 with the merger of two of Britain's largest insurance companies, Royal Insurance and Sun Alliance.
Since the merger the Group has significantly changed shape, with three large acquisitions in 1999 (Orion Capital in the USA, Trygg-Hansa of Sweden and Tyndall Asset Management in Australia) and a recent programme of disposals that has included the IPO of our Australian and New Zealand operations, which completed on 16 May 2003 and the sale of their UK Healthcare and Assistance business in April 2003.
Additional information can be found on the Royalsunalliance.co.uk Insurance website.
(See the links above)
| 
Royal And Sun Alliance Insurance
