Overview
Aviva plc is a diversified insurance, wealth and retirement group centered on life insurance, general insurance, savings and investment products, retirement income solutions, and asset management. It describes itself as the UK’s leading diversified insurer, with a business model organized around Insurance, Wealth and Retirement; its offerings include protection against insured risks, investment management and advice, and retirement products such as drawdown, annuities and equity release.[1][2][3][4][5]
The group’s core geographic footprint is the UK, Ireland and Canada, where it serves 20.5 million customers, while also holding international investments in markets including India, China and Singapore. Aviva states its purpose as “With you today, for a better tomorrow,” reflecting a focus on protecting customers’ homes, health, wealth, futures and families. As broad indicators of scale, Aviva reported 2024 insurance revenue of £20.7 billion and fee and commission income of £1.4 billion, and it employed 29,091 people at year-end.[1][6][7][8][9][10][11] [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Products & services
Aviva’s general insurance products include Aviva Signature car insurance, which is designed to cover accidents, damage and third-party claims and includes features such as an uninsured-driver promise, access to an approved repairer network and a repair quality guarantee [12]. Aviva Signature home insurance covers buildings, contents or both, with optional extras such as accidental damage, legal services and bike cover [13]. In the UK, Aviva also sells travel and gadget insurance, and its QuoteMeHappy Essentials range is positioned as an affordable motor and home proposition [14][15]. Commercial lines insurance is offered to businesses ranging from micro-enterprises to large UK and global corporates [16]. In Canada, Aviva sells personal auto, home, condo, tenant and lifestyle policies including ATV and snowmobile, boat, collector car, cottage, manufactured home, motorcycle and RV cover, alongside business insurance, commercial auto and financial lines such as D&O, employment practices liability and fiduciary/pension trust liability [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Canada personal lines constitute 62% of the book, while commercial lines are split between ABI at 18% and GCS at 20% [31][32]. Canada’s MyAviva self-service portal lets direct customers view policy details, make payments, download pink slips, access documents and manage billing [33].
Protection and health products span individual protection, group protection and health cover; Aviva describes itself as the only scaled UK provider across health, group protection and individual protection [34]. Its disclosed health-related offerings include private health insurance, critical illness cover, income protection, personal accident insurance and corporate healthcare products [35]. On consumer product pages, Aviva Life Insurance is term cover that pays a lump sum if the policyholder dies during the term, Income Protection Insurance replaces part of income with monthly payments if illness or injury prevents working, Critical Illness Cover pays a lump sum for one of 52 covered conditions, and Aviva Health Insurance provides access to private medical treatment together with 24/7 digital GP and wellbeing services including mental-health support and physiotherapy [36][37][38][39].
Aviva’s wealth and retirement product set includes the Adviser Platform, the Pension Portfolio SIPP, workplace pensions, Aviva Pension, the Find and Combine pension-consolidation service, a Junior ISA, bulk purchase annuities, individual annuities and equity release [40][41][42][43][44]. The platform includes asset-transition functionality [41], while the pension product range includes online pension opening or transfer, MyAviva account management, and a consolidation service intended to locate old pensions and review charges, exit fees and valuable benefits before transfer [45][46]. Aviva says its individual annuities business is the largest in the UK by portfolio size [47], and in Ireland it offers protection, savings, pensions and annuities, including Level Health, whose eligible customers can receive discounted home insurance, free accidental death cover and discounted mortgage protection [48][49]. Through Aviva Investors, the group also provides investment-management services and retail products across fixed income, equities, multi-asset, real estate, infrastructure and private credit [50][51]. [14][15][16][31][32][34][35][40][41][42][43][44][47][48][49][50][51][12][13][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][33][36][37][38][39][45][46]
Geographic presence
Aviva’s core operating footprint is concentrated in the UK, Ireland and Canada. The group states that it operates through businesses in those three markets, while its international investments are in India and China; its Singapore investment was sold in March 2024. Aviva Investors is presented separately as a global asset manager rather than a single-country operation [52][53][50].
Geographic income disclosure is limited, but Aviva reports that total reported income excluding inter-segment revenue included £37,751 million from the United Kingdom, its country of domicile, and notes that income is attributed by geographic origin, which broadly aligns with where contracts are written [54]. On a segment basis, 2024 insurance revenue was £8,973 million in Insurance, Wealth & Retirement, £7,388 million in UK & Ireland General Insurance, and £4,326 million in Canada General Insurance, with a further £78 million in International investments [55].
Employee disclosure is also organized mainly by business unit/geography. At 31 December 2024, Aviva had 29,091 employees, including 10,944 in Insurance, Wealth & Retirement, 10,000 in UK & Ireland General Insurance, 5,132 in Canada General Insurance, 1,300 in International investments, 973 in Aviva Investors, and 742 in other operations [56][11]. The company’s registered office is at 80 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4AE [57]. [52][53][50][54][55][56][11][57]
Business segments
Aviva presents its business in two closely related ways: at the key business-unit level it reports Insurance, Wealth & Retirement (IWR), General Insurance, and Aviva Investors, with overseas holdings shown separately as International investments; in the detailed segmental income statement, General Insurance is split into UK & Ireland General Insurance and Canada General Insurance, and Other Group activities is shown separately as well.[58][55] IWR covers life insurance, long-term health and accident insurance, savings and investments, and retirement products including pensions, annuities and lifetime mortgages.[59] UK & Ireland General Insurance focuses on motor, property and liability cover for individuals and businesses, while Canada General Insurance provides personal and commercial lines insurance mainly for motor, property and liability risks, principally through brokers.[60][61] Aviva Investors manages policyholders’ and shareholders’ invested funds and provides investment management services for institutional pension mandates and retail products, while International investments comprise the group’s long-term businesses in India and China; Other Group activities includes centrally held assets, corporate-centre costs, financing costs, eliminations and consolidation adjustments.[62][53][63]
Using 2024 segmental income as an approximate mix indicator, IWR contributed about 43% of reported insurance revenue (£8.97bn of £20.75bn) and about 61% of group adjusted operating profit (£1.07bn of £1.77bn).[55] Combined General Insurance contributed about 56% of insurance revenue and about 56% of operating profit, split between UK & Ireland General Insurance at roughly 36% of insurance revenue and 40% of operating profit, and Canada General Insurance at roughly 21% and 16%, respectively.[55] Aviva Investors and International investments were much smaller contributors at about 2% and 3% of operating profit, while Other Group activities was a negative offset of roughly 22%.[55] [58][55][59][60][61][62][53][63]
Company history
Aviva traces its origins to 12 November 1696, when one of its earliest constituent companies, Hand in Hand Fire Office, was founded in London [64]. Over the following centuries, the group’s lineage developed through several major British insurers, notably Norwich Union, founded in 1797, Commercial Union, founded in 1861, and General Accident, founded in 1885 [65][66].
The modern company was assembled through a series of mergers and rebrandings. In 1998, Commercial Union and General Accident merged to form CGU, and in 2000 CGU merged with Norwich Union to create CGNU [66][67]. CGNU adopted the Aviva name in 2002, establishing a single group identity, and the long-standing Norwich Union brand in the UK was subsequently retired in 2009 as part of the wider move to the Aviva name [68][69]. [64][65][66][67][68][69]
Sources
- AVIVA — Full financial report (2024 Y)
- www.aviva.co.uk[12]
- www.aviva.co.uk[13]
- AVIVA — Full financial report (2023 Y)[15]
- www.aviva.ca[17]
- www.aviva.ca[18]
- www.aviva.ca[19]
- www.aviva.ca[20]
- www.aviva.ca[21]
- www.aviva.ca[22]
- www.aviva.ca[23]
- www.aviva.ca[24]
- www.aviva.ca[25]
- www.aviva.ca[26]
- www.aviva.ca[27]
- www.aviva.ca[28]
- www.aviva.ca[29]
- www.aviva.ca[30]
- www.aviva.ca[33]
- AVIVA — Press release (2024 Y)[34]
- www.aviva.co.uk[36]
- www.aviva.co.uk[37]
- www.aviva.co.uk[38]
- www.aviva.co.uk[39]
- www.aviva.co.uk[45]
- www.aviva.co.uk[46]
- AVIVA — Full financial report (2021 Y)[64]
- www.aviva.com[65]
- www.aviva.com[66]
- www.aviva.com[67]
- www.aviva.com[68]
- www.aviva.com[69]
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