Lloyds buys Zurich UK’s pensions, savings unit

Lloyds Banking Group has agreed to buy Zurich Insurance’s UK workplace pensions and savings business as it expands its retirement business, the bank said recently.

Life insurers and asset managers in Britain have been refocusing their businesses to capitalise on rule changes giving pensioners more freedom on how to spend their pension pots, according to a report by Reuters.

The deal “is a clear signal of Lloyds Banking Group’s commitment to the financial planning and retirement segment”, said Antonio Lorenzo, Lloyds’ director of insurance and wealth and chief executive of its life insurance business Scottish Widows.

Zurich Insurance is in the middle of a major strategy overhaul, which involves simplifying the group’s structure, cutting USD1.5 billion in costs and shaping up its underperforming general insurance unit.

Bankers have also speculated that Scottish Widows and Standard Life Aberdeen could form an insurance tie-up. Lloyds is a major shareholder in Standard Life Aberdeen.