Clerical Medical brand dropped as Lloyds merges IFA sales forces

Andy Briggs, managing director of Scottish Widows, said the decision to hasten the merger of the Clerical Medical and Scottish Widows intermediary sales forces was in response to IFAs.

'The strong feedback from IFAs was that they wanted clarity as to the way we would be running the two businesses,' said Briggs.

A total of 305 jobs will be lost across the country as the two sales forces are combined under the Scottish Widows brand from 1 July. Seperately the two forces employed 475, a number that will fall to 293 after the merger. In sales and support 190 posts will go with a further 115 job losses in customer services.

The Scottish Widows brand was chosen to front the merged groups due to its strong customer awareness and visual identity, the company said.

Briggs said that the new sales force would be one of the biggest in the country - claiming the industry average sales force was 159 - and would be dedicated to maintaining IFA service levels.

A single product range will be created with Scottish Widows pension plans sitting alongside the investments and offshore products of Clerical Medical. There will be no change for existing policyholders but new business will fall under the Widows brand from July.

Briggs stressed that this was the 'first step' in the merger of the life insurance operations of Lloyds Group and that the announcement did not include the fund management operations of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and Insight.

Both Scottish Widows and Clerical Medical will retain their head offices in Edinburgh and Bristol respectively.

Archie Kane, group executive director insurance, Lloyds Banking Group said, ‘This is the first important step in our aim to establish one simplified organisation. We are mindful of the rich heritage and strength of the Clerical Medical brand however our research has shown that Scottish Widows is the most recognised and trusted brand in the market place.

He added: ‘Today's announcement takes us a step closer to achieving our vision: to be recognised as the best life, pension and investment company by our customers, colleagues and shareholders. In doing so, we are bringing together the best of both of our heritage companies to provide a very strong platform for the future.’

Clerical Medical was founded in 1824. Headquartered in Bristol, it operates entirely through IFAs and employes over 200 sales people and 2,300 support staff. Scottish Widows is a slightly older brand. Founded in 1815 the Edinburgh-based business has a 'multi-sales' structure operating through the Lloyds branch network, direct sales and marketing as well as IFAs. It employs around 4,000 people.