Will we end up with a few clones?
The merger between Friends Provident and Resolution is the mere beginning of market consolidation, argues Andrew Cheseldine of Hewitt Associates. With a number of other deals on the cards, why now – and what does this mean for IFAs?
What next?
In the meantime, who will take the lead in the market – who will survive and who will be rolled into another provider. The life assurance industry has continuously reinvented itself over the past 100 years.
Many household names of even the 80s and 90s, such as Clerical Medical, SunAlliance, and Equitable Life are no longer proactively marketing their pension wares.
Is the current wave of consolidation likely to have a lasting impact? Possibly not. Even now we can see several potential new entrants looking at the market. As with many industries, no sooner has there been consolidation, than opportunities open up for boutique providers that can differentiate themselves in discrete market positions. Watch this space.
