From today, Friends Provident International is officially part of the Aviva Group. Not known to many people, Friends Provident International has been running business in Singapore for many years, but only servicing mass affluent and high net worth clients.

In my view, Aviva and Friends Provident Life are complementary businesses and their combination will enhance business growth aspirations materially.

Bringing together Friends Life and Aviva has allowed Aviva to create a stronger insurance and savings business, which is a market leader in the UK and has a strong position in Asia and the Middle East.

Here are a few facts and figures to give you an overview of the new Aviva scale after the merger:

• Aviva and Friends have a combined 34 million customers (Before deducting overlapping customers) across 16 countries.
• In the UK, Aviva is the leading insurer serving one in every four households.
• Aviva shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and a member of the FTSE100 index.
• Aviva has strong businesses in Europe, Asia and Canada.
• Aviva has a presence in seven markets in Asia (Singapore, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan and India), with leading positions in the core markets and strong partnerships with leading local players.
• Aviva Group now offers the combined capabilities of individual protection, group protection, investment management, wealth management, life insurance and general insurance.

I was often asked what if the insurer decides to discontinue their businesses. In fact, merger of insurers are common in Singapore.

Just two years ago, AXA has taken over both general insurance and employee benefit business from HSBC. If you look back further, Manulife has taken over John Hancock, Prudential has take over UOB insurance.

I think with the increasing cost of running insurance business, these kind of merger will just become prevalent.