Legal and General has announced it is to merge its savings and protection divisions to create a single business unit in which the wholly owned Cofunds platform will sit, as part of a group restructure that will also see it create a separate annuities business arm.
John Pollock, currently chief executive officer of L&G’s protection and annuities business, will oversee the new combined savings and protection business, which the firm said will have 5,000 staff members and more than 7m customers.
As part of the restructure, the annuities business, which is currently part of a risk division that houses both protection and annuities business, will become a separate business division led by Kerrigan Procter.
Mark Gregory, currently chief executive of the savings business has separately been promoted to the position of group chief financial officer effective from 1 July.
In May, previously 25 per cent minority shareholder L&G acquired the remaining share capital it did not own in Cofunds for £131m, in a value that valued the platform at around £175m.
Several senior names have left Cofunds since the takeover, including chief executive Martin Davis, who was to be replaced by Chris Last, head of strategic opportunities in the L&G savings business.
The shuffle will also see the company’s unit trust business will become part of Legal and General Investment Management and will be overseen by LGIM chief executive Mark Zinkula.
Nigel Wilson, group chief executive of L&G, said: “The successful turnaround of the Savings business now enables us to re-organise our business in a way which best reflects customer needs and the increasingly digital distribution environment of [Retail Distribution Review], auto-enrolment and platforms.
“Customers want straightforward access to our products and services and the new structure will enable us to deliver this and maximise the synergies between our businesses.”
