Found an Old Life Insurance or Pension Policy? Here's Who to Contact Now

Have you found an old life insurance or pension policy?

If you have found an old life insurance or pension policy with a company name you don’t recognise, you’re not alone. The Irish life assurance industry has gone thorough decades of mergers, takeovers and rebranding, and many well-known names simply don’t exist anymore. Here’s what happened to them.

Hibernian Life & Pensions Aviva’s heritage in Ireland began over 100 years ago with the foundation of the Hibernian Fire & General Insurance Company in 1908. In 2008, Hibernian announced it would be rebranding as Aviva as part of a global rebranding campaign. The company became Hibernian Aviva in January 2009, with the final step to the Aviva name completing in 2010. A Hibernian Life policy is now with Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland.

Norwich Union had Irish operations but the Norwich Union name was dropped in Ireland in 2000 in favour of Hibernian, when Commercial Union and Norwich Union merged globally. Norwich Union policies are with Aviva.

Commercial Union was actually the majority shareholder in Hibernian from the 1960s. It merged with General Accident in February 1998 to form CGU, which then merged with Norwich Union in May 2000 to form CGNU, which changed its name to Aviva in 2002. Commercial Union policies are with Aviva.

Friends First had a long independent life in Ireland. It had earlier been part of Friends Provident until it was demutualised in 1992, rolled into Eureko, and later rebranded as Friends First in 1998. In 2018, Aviva acquired the business of Friends First from Dutch company Achmea. Friends First policies are now with Aviva.

Eagle Star Life is the main name to know here. Eagle Star Life was formerly known as Shield Life and is now owned by Zurich Financial Services. The rebrand to Zurich Life happened around 2008/2009. Eagle Star (and Shield Life) policies are now with Zurich Life.

Ark Life was AIB’s own life assurance subsidiary. Ark Life Assurance Company was originally founded in 1991 as a bancassurance subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank plc. AIB sold it to UK firm Guardian/Phoenix ReAssure in 2013, before Irish Life agreed to buy Ark Life for €230m, involving 150,000 policies and €2.1bn of assets. The High Court approved the portfolio transfer of all Ark Life policies to Irish Life in September 2022. Ark Life policies are now with Irish Life.

Progressive Life has a more convoluted history. The Insurance Corporation of Ireland Life (ICI Life) was sold by the Government as a profitable going concern to Prudential. Prudential Life operated in Ireland until its acquisition by Irish Permanent Building Society, where the life office traded as Progressive Life. In 1999, Irish Life Assurance plc and the Irish Permanent Building Society merged, and the operations of Progressive Life and Irish Life Assurance were merged. So ICI Life → Prudential Life → Progressive Life → Irish Life.

The original Irish Life itself was created in 1939 from the amalgamation of four Irish companies: City of Dublin Assurance, Irish Life and General Assurance, Irish National Assurance, and Munster and Leinster Assurance. Later, several British companies shed their Irish operations into this company, including Prudential Assurance, Britannic Assurance, Liverpool Victoria, Pearl Assurance, and the Refuge Assurance Company.

Lifetime was Bank of Ireland’s own bancassurance arm, launched in 1987. Bank of Ireland acquired New Ireland Assurance plc in 1997, after which Lifetime was folded into New Ireland. Lifetime policies are with New Ireland Assurance, which now trades for Bank of Ireland retail customers as Bank of Ireland Life — life assurance and pensions products are provided by New Ireland Assurance Company plc, trading as Bank of Ireland Life.

Scottish Provident operated actively in Ireland through the 1990s (notably in mortgage protection) but withdrew from the Irish market. Their Irish back-book was acquired and is now administered by Zurich Life.

Royal Liver had a presence in Ireland through industrial branch policies (typically small whole-of-life policies collected door-to-door). Royal Liver merged with Royal London, which still administers those policies.

Standard Life still operates in Ireland under its own name (now part of the Phoenix Group in the UK, but the Irish operation continues trading as Standard Life Ireland).

Canada Life has operated in Ireland continuously and still trades under its own name.

Tracing an old policy is just the first step. Once you know who holds it, the next question is whether it’s still working for you. Some old policies can have valuable benefits attaching so we would caution against taking any action before having the policy reviewed by an adviser. At Highfield Financial Planning we find and review old life assurance and pension policies as part of our straightforward, no jargon tracing service. If you’ve found a policy and want to know what it’s worth and what to do next, we can help.