Legal & General is merging its insurance and retail retirement divisions, Health & Protection has learned.
The insurer revealed the changes to staff yesterday afternoon and confirmed the move to Health & Protection today, although it has not publicly announced the restructure yet.
The move is expected to be made in the New Year with current L&G Insurance (LGI) CEO Bernie Hickman set to lead both businesses as CEO.
As part of the move, Legal & General Retail Retirement (LGRR) CEO Andrew Kail will becoming CEO of LGRI which focuses on pension risk transfer.
L&G said it was too soon to say if there would be redundancies and how many they would be, and also whether the divisions would retain their current names or be amalgamated into a new one.
“We will be bringing the L&G Retail Retirement (LGRR) and LGI businesses closer together under the leadership of Bernie Hickman,” the insurer told Health & Protection.
“As both businesses serve retail clients, having a single interface for retail clients, whether with insurance or pension savings products, will enable us to better satisfy our customers’ and distribution partners’ service expectations, which have grown since the pandemic, and to work better and more seamlessly for and with them.
“This will position us for continued growth in our retail and workplace businesses.”
Hickman has been with L&G for 23 years with roles across the organisation including managing director of individual retirement, CEO co-founder of L&G Home Finance, MD of retail protection, group financial controller and Solvency II MD. For the last 5 years Hickman has been CEO of LGI.
Kail joined Legal & General in March 2021 after spending 30 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), with his last role as head of financial services.
The insurer said he had made “significant progress with his leadership team in LGRR, integrating workplace into LGRR and developing a future strategy for the continued growth of the LGRR business.”
It added: “This experience will enable him to drive even more effective collaboration across our divisions.”