Legal & General Group Plc is a British based financial services company that provides life, health and other insurance, as well as pensions and investments. It is headquartered in London and its shares trade on the London Stock Exchange as part of the FTSE 100 Index. As well as the United Kingdom, major markets include France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.

History

Legal & General was formed by John Adams and five other lawyers in June 1836 in a Chancery Lane coffee shop. Originally called the New Law Life Assurance Society, the society was restricted to those in the legal profession. The name was changed to Legal & General Life Assurance Society to reflect that policies were available to the general public but with share ownership restricted to those in the legal profession.

The group expanded in the UK and soon began to acquire overseas life assurance companies, purchasing the Metropolitan Life Assurance Company of New York in the 1930s.

In 1956 Life business was set up in Australia.

The society became a wholly owned division of Legal & General Group plc in the 1970s.

During the 1980s Legal & General bought Government Employee Life Insurance in the USA and the Dutch branch of Unlike Assurance Group and set up business in France.

The previous Legal & General logo incorporates the image of the Temple Bar (which is still used in the logo of the company's social and athletic committee), and the founding date. The umbrella logo used today was introduced by former Chief Press Officer Gordon Macdonald in June 1984.

During the early 1990s, Legal and General had been sponsoring the Regional Weather Forecasts for the ITV network.

In 1999, Legal & General announced plans to merge its business with that of the National Westminster Bank to form the first 'bancassurance' company in the UK. However, poor market reception to the deal saw the Royal Bank of Scotland bid for the National Westminster, and the merger deal collapsed.

In 2003, Northern Rock bought the Legal & General Bank and Legal & General Mortgage Services.

In 2005 Legal & General sold its stake in Gresham Insurance, its joint venture with Barclays Bank, to Barclays.

In 2008 Legal & General bought Suffolk Life, a provider of Self Invested Pension products.

In 2008, Legal & General outsourced its IT development areas to TCS (Tata Consultancy Services). Some staff have relocated from Hove and Kingswood to TCS offices in Horley and Redhill.

Operations

Today the company continues to offer a wide range of products and, in addition to its direct sales service and brokerage agreements with numerous tied agents and independent financial advisers, it has alliances to sell its products to the customers of Barclays Bank, Alliance & Leicester, Birmingham Midshires, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, National Australia Bank, Bank of Ireland, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Yorkshire Building Society, Leek United Building Society, Bradford & Bingley, Chelsea Building Society, Northern Rock, Nationwide Building Society,The Woolwich and Sainsbury's Bank.

Estate Agency - Xperience

Although not often promoted by the company, Legal & General also owns one of the largest estate agency/lettings agency franchise businesses in the UK through its LGFL (Legal & General Franchising Ltd) subsidiary. The businesses are not marketed under the Legal & General brand, but instead operate under a number of regional brands, operating over 110 branches nationwide.

LGFL Franchisees trade under one of four different brand names depending on the area in which they operate. Each brand name has been trading for at least 17 years and in some cases over 150. The brands are:

• CJ Hole
• Ellis & Co
• Parkers
• Whitegates

Since 2005 LGFL has operated under the name Xperience further separating the branding of operation from the main Legal & General brand.

References

External links

• Legal & General Group Plc - Official Company Page
• Legal & General Group Plc - Recruitment
• Legal & General Pension Training Videos
• Xperience Estate Agency