Legal & General quits insurance trade body ABI
Legal & General (L&G) yesterday quit the UK’s biggest insurance lobby group, the Association of British Insurers (ABI), to strike out on its own in its bid to influence public policy.
The FTSE 100 giant, led by chief executive Nigel Wilson, blamed its burgeoning profile as a fund manager and a lack of faith in influencing public policy through the ABI for the exit.
Legal & General Investment Management, the group’s fund management business, now represents about 20 per cent of the group’s overall profits.
Meanwhile, the business focuses on just a handful of insurance lines, while the ABI represents general insurance issues.
“Our shareholders’ and policyholders’ interests are best served through Legal & General engaging through a variety of interfaces rather than through one trade association and therefore we have decided to terminate our membership,” Wilson wrote in a letter to ABI boss Otto Thoresen.
The ABI said it was “disappointed” with the move.
L&G has become increasingly vociferous on major public policy debates in the UK in recent months, ranging from housing issues to pension saving.
“We can only assume L&G feels its interests can be better represented from outside the ABI; presumably they’ll be saving a few quid in subscription fees too,” Hargreaves Lansdown’s Tom McPhail said.