AFFINITY AND PARTNERSHIP MARKETING IN UK LIFE INSURANCE, RETIREMENT PRODUCTS AND FINANCIAL ADVICE TABLE OF CONTENTS 0.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...

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1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 0.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION... 2 Background... 2 Rationale... 2 Affinity and partnership marketing remains an important, strategic topic for financial institutions as the ability of affinity and corporate partners to compete effectively has evolved over time... 2 Implementation of the RDR is likely to have had a specific impact on the services covered by this report... 2 Methodology... 4 Organisations investigated... 4 Finaccord's research covers a total of 2,555 actual and potential partner organisations representing virtually all entities that could be significant in this field... 5 Calculation of weighted provider share of partnerships... 5 Finaccord's methodology identifies providers that are likely to hold the most valuable relationships by means of formulae that take into account not only UK traffic rankings for organisations' websites but also distribution shares for each financial product or service by organisation category and the total number of organisations in each category that actually distribute the product... 6 Definitions... 6 Financial products... 6 Term life, critical illness, income protection, over-50s and funeral expenses policies are all in scope... 6 as are various products taken out either before or at retirement... 6 Financial advice can also encompass savings and investments plus tax and estate planning... 7 Operating models... 7 PartnerBASE syntax... 8 Finaccord... 8 UK affinity and partnership marketing publications... 8 UK consumer research publications MARKET OVERVIEW Affinities and partnerships in UK life insurance, retirement products and financial advice Life insurance Finaccord s research identifies over 300 schemes for life insurance involving an external partner which are divided between 19 distributor categories Many affinity schemes are organised via hybrid operating models embracing different approaches often as a result of more than one type of life insurance being on offer Only two organisations are ranked in the top eight for both the weighted and unweighted analysis namely Legal & General (the leading provider in both) and LifeSearch The relationships of both Legal & General and Aviva Life & Pensions lie mainly in the financial sector LifeSearch recorded annual turnover of just under GBP 20 million in the most recent financial year Retirement products Partner organisations in 13 out of 29 categories have a clearly articulated retirement product proposition Retirement products are more often organised via an external intermediary than directly with the provider By outright number of partnerships, Just Retirement and Key Retirement are the leaders Just Retirement acts as both a direct product source and a provider of advice and comparison services Origen Financial Solutions lays claim to the partnership that contributes the most in weighted terms Financial advice % or more of organisations in five categories act as providers of financial advice producing a total of over 130 initiatives involving an external IFA or other provider Financial advice is most often organised in association with a single external IFA FINACCORD (06/2015) I

2 Lighthouse Financial Advice claims the most affinity and corporate partnerships partly (although not only) because of its relationship with Parliament Hill In the weighted analysis, a single partnership is sufficient to secure the position of the sector leader Lighthouse Financial Advice secured a brand new relationship with Unite in February NOT-FOR-PROFIT AFFINITY PARTNERS Charities The websites of Age UK and the RSPB attract particularly high UK-based traffic Analysis of partnerships Life insurance is promoted by one in five charities researched Arthur J Gallagher and Dignity Pre Arrangement are the most visible providers of life insurance to charities Golden Charter and The Insurance Surgery benefit from ties with three charities and a variety of other providers of life insurance hold one or two partnerships each in this sphere A number of charities have arrangements for promoting retirement products to their supporters and for some of these the service also extends to the area of general financial advice Lifestyle organisations Introduction The category of lifestyle organisations embraces a diverse range of entities Analysis of partnerships St. James's Place Wealth Management works with the captive IFA of one lifestyle association Professional associations Introduction The combined membership of professional associations comes to just under 4 million Analysis of partnerships Over a third of professional associations have organised a scheme for life insurance Parliament Hill runs member benefit schemes on behalf of numerous professional associations making it the dominant provider in this sector by both unweighted and weighted share HMCA also holds a significant number of partnerships in this arena Nine other providers of life insurance have secured deals with professional associations Few professional associations have a specific offering in the area of retirement products although over 40 have appointed a preferred provider of financial advice Apart from Parliament Hill, Lloyd & Whyte has the most ties with professional associations in this arena Sports organisations Introduction This category includes bodies to which individual sports clubs, practitioners and trainers may belong Analysis of partnerships Seven sports organisations have established affinity programs for life insurance but none for retirement products and just two for financial advice Trade associations Introduction Finaccord has extended its coverage in this category to over 700 associations Analysis of partnerships Over 20 trade associations offer life insurance to the employees of their member companies In this domain, HMCA is the only provider with more than one distribution partnership with the remainder spread thinly across ten separate entities Scottish Widows benefits from its relationship with the Federation of Small Businesses Several trade associations have appointed an accredited provider of financial advice Trade unions Introduction There are over 6 million trade union members in the UK Analysis of partnerships A significant number of trade unions include life insurance among offers made to members Five providers work directly or indirectly with two or more trade unions FINACCORD (06/2015) II

3 and more than a dozen others with one trade union each, including Unite Life with Unite UIB consistently achieves a high level of profitability relative to its annual turnover For retirement products, Hencilla Canworth acts as provider to both Equity and the Musicians Union Over 30 trade unions have organised an accredited provider of financial advice for their members Lighthouse and Endsleigh are prominent providers in both unweighted and weighted terms in part by virtue of the fact that they are two of only four entities with more than one relationship Universities Introduction The Open University's website attracts more UK traffic than that of any other UK-based university Analysis of partnerships A few universities include life insurance as an element of their alumni or current student benefits and for a couple, financial advice is also available FINANCIAL PARTNERS Banks Introduction Several challenger banks have emerged to compete with the major incumbents and further structural changes to the market are likely to occur in future years Analysis of partnerships Just over one third of banks researched are distributors of life insurance although the number of providers with mandates in this space has shrunk to just seven Only two banks have any specific proposition in the area of retirement products A dozen banks continue to offer financial advice in one form or another occasionally acting as tied agents or working with an external IFA but more normally organising the service internally albeit with the model determined by the RDR Building societies Introduction Mergers and acquisitions have caused the number of extant building society brands to shrink to Analysis of partnerships Almost two thirds of building societies remain active as distributors of life insurance although only five providers claim more than one building society partnership which is partly due to the strength of Legal & General in this channel The provision rate for retirement products has retreated to just five out of 49 organisations A majority of building societies offer financial advice with three operating models in evidence including tied agency, for which Legal & General is the dominant provider and use of an external IFA, for which Towergate Financial holds most partnerships Credit unions Introduction Total membership across around 360 credit unions in the UK now exceeds 1.17 million with all key credit union metrics having grown strongly in recent years apart from the actual number of credit unions given that there were over 500 in Few credit union websites attract a significant volume of UK-based visitors Analysis of partnerships Sterling Life is taking over from CUNA Mutual as provider of life savings insurance to credit union members Friendly societies Introduction Finaccord's research covers 25 of the larger friendly societies in the UK among which Liverpool Victoria (LV=) is by far the largest Analysis of partnerships Selling protection-related life insurance is a core activity for the vast majority of friendly societies although only two are involved in the field of retirement products Two friendly societies offer financial advice, both by means of a captive IFA Insurers (tied / multi-tied intermediaries) FINACCORD (06/2015) III

4 Introduction Over 50 branded intermediaries effectively act as tied or multi-tied agents for insurance products meaning that they also constitute a partnership marketing opportunity Analysis of partnerships Five types of operating model are in evidence for life cover sold through entities in this category Alpha Insurance holds the most partnerships with distributors in this category but Scottish Friendly emerges most favourably from the weighted analysis Insurers (underwriters) Introduction Over 80 insurance underwriting brands can be broken down into three main sub-categories Sometimes, insurance underwriting brands distribute the policies of other underwriters or brokers Analysis of partnerships out of 41 insurance underwriting brands work with a non-internal provider of life policies often filling in product gaps where they do not underwrite a policy type themselves Cigna, Legal & General and Vitality Life lead in this field by weighted share of partnerships Just Retirement holds two partnerships for retirement products with insurance underwriting brands Wealth at Work claims the deal for financial advice delivering the highest weighted share of partnerships and is a company that has recorded rapid growth in turnover in recent years Online aggregators and brokers Introduction The market for online aggregation and broking has become more concentrated in recent years as a result of a number of factors including the challenge thrown up by cashback websites Analysis of partnerships Some entities in this category have their own search engine but many outsource to external providers ActiveQuote is used for income protection insurance comparisons by two major aggregators although they use other providers for mainstream life insurance policies Five providers have three partnerships each in this category but they are rarely exclusive ones Six major online intermediaries have devised a system for promoting retirement products although just five are active in the provision of general financial advice Specialised lenders Introduction The category of specialised lenders includes a variety of different types of institution with many new competitors having emerged in the wake of the 'credit crunch' Analysis of partnerships A single initiative for life insurance is visible in this partner category COMMERCIAL PARTNERS Automotive associations Introduction In addition to the AA and RAC, nine other organisations fall within this partner category Analysis of partnerships Three automotive associations distribute life insurance, all by means of a different operating model The CSMA Club maintains a partnership with Lighthouse Financial Advice Coalition loyalty schemes and frequent flyer programs Introduction Among qualifying entities, Nectar s website attracts the most UK-based online traffic Analysis of partnerships Two loyalty schemes allow members to earn 'currency' by purchasing life insurance Estate agency and property service firms Introduction This category includes prominent online estate agency and property portals as well as traditional chains Analysis of partnerships FINACCORD (06/2015) IV

5 Almost three quarters of organisations in this category have an arrangement for promoting life insurance Legal & General and Mortgage Advice Bureau are the category leaders on an unweighted basis in a fragmented field in which there are at least 40 competing providers in total Mortgage Advice Bureau grew its turnover by almost 50% in the most recent financial year The high traffic attracted to the website of Zoopla is of benefit to lovemoney.com in the weighted analysis Many fewer estate agency and property service firms have a specific arrangement for retirement products firms have an arrangement in place for offering general financial advice although only one provider has a relationship with more than one of them Private Finance and SPF Private Clients are most prominent in the weighted analysis Internet, media and telecoms entities Introduction This category embraces many organisations with extremely high UK website rankings which can have a substantial impact on the analysis of weighted partnership shares Analysis of partnerships Entities in this category are displaying less interest in acting as distributors of life insurance In weighted terms, London & Country holds the partnership that apparently offers most potential Most initiatives for retirement products have been set up with one or more independent financial advisers Just Retirement and Key Retirement both have two partnerships each in this distribution category while Skipton Financial Services is used by two for general financial advice Retailers Introduction The research focuses on 80 of the retailer brands with most potential to offer insurance products Analysis of partnerships Eight major retailing brands are used for selling forms of protection-related life insurance FINACCORD (06/2015) V

6 LIST OF GRAPHICS / TABLES 0.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION... 2 The affinity and partnership marketing universe... 3 Organisations investigated, segmented by broad category MARKET OVERVIEW Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for life insurance in the UK: provision rate by category of partner Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for life insurance in the UK: operating models Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for life insurance in the UK: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for retirement products in the UK: provision rate by category of partner Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for retirement products in the UK: operating models Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for at-retirement products in the UK: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for financial advice in the UK: provision rate by category of partner Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for financial advice in the UK: operating models Affinity and partnership marketing schemes for financial advice in the UK: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships NOT-FOR-PROFIT AFFINITY PARTNERS Charities offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Charities offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Charities offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Charities offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Charities offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Charities offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Lifestyle organisations offering retirement products and financial advice: provision rates and operating models Top 40 professional associations in the UK ranked by member numbers, 2015 (table) Professional associations offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Professional associations offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Professional associations offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Professional associations offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Professional associations offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Professional associations offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Sports organisations offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Sports organisations offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Sports organisations offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Top 80 trade associations in the UK ranked by member numbers, 2015 (table) Top 80 trade associations in the UK ranked by member numbers, 2015 (table) (continued) Trade associations offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Trade associations offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Trade associations offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models FINACCORD (06/2015) VI

7 Trade associations offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Trade associations offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Trade associations offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Top 40 trade unions in the UK ranked by member numbers, 2015 (table) Trade unions offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Trade unions offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Trade unions offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Trade unions offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Trade unions offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Trade unions offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Universities offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Universities offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Universities offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Universities offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships FINANCIAL PARTNERS Banks offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Banks offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Banks offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Banks offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Banks offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Building societies offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Building societies offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Building societies offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Building societies offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships 88 Building societies offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Building societies offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Credit unions offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Friendly societies offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Friendly societies offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Friendly societies offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Friendly societies offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Insurers (tied / multi-tied intermediaries) offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Insurers (tied / multi-tied intermediaries) offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Insurers (underwriters) offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Insurers (underwriters) offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Insurers (underwriters) offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Insurers (underwriters) offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Insurers (underwriters) offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Insurers (underwriters) offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Online aggregators and brokers offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Online aggregators and brokers offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Online aggregators and brokers offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Online aggregators and brokers offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Online aggregators and brokers offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Specialised lenders offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models FINACCORD (06/2015) VII

8 5.0 COMMERCIAL PARTNERS Automotive associations offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Automotive associations offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Automotive associations offering retirement products and financial advice: provision rates and operating models Coalition loyalty schemes and frequent flyer programs offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Coalition loyalty schemes and frequent flyer programs offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Estate agency and property service firms offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models. 128 Estate agency and property service firms offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Estate agency and property service firms offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Estate agency and property service firms offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Estate agency and property service firms offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Estate agency and property service firms offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Internet, media and telecoms entities offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Internet, media and telecoms entities offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Internet, media and telecoms entities offering retirement products: provision rates and operating models Internet, media and telecoms entities offering retirement products: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Internet, media and telecoms entities offering financial advice: provision rates and operating models Internet, media and telecoms entities offering financial advice: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships Retailers offering life insurance: provision rates and operating models Retailers offering life insurance: unweighted and weighted provider share of partnerships FINACCORD (06/2015) VIII