ARC LEGAL APPOINTED AS UK HOUSEHOLD AND TRAVEL LEGAL EXPENSES PROVIDER FOR AVIVA

Arc Legal Assistance (Arc Legal) has been appointed by Aviva, the largest insurer in the UK, as provider of its household and travel legal expenses to a significant proportion of its personal lines customers.

The deal with Aviva represents one of the largest contracts of its kind in the UK market – Aviva insures one in five households. The specialist legal expenses firm will provide cover for over 1 million Aviva household legal expenses policies and specialist worldwide travel legal expenses cover with 2 million travel insurance policies.

Arc Legal was appointed following a full tender process and the transfer of business from the current provider took effect from 1st September 2010 on all new business and at renewal on all existing policies.

Helen Withers, Managing Director of Arc Legal, said: “This deal represents a significant milestone not just in the development of our business but also in affirming the role of add-on legal expenses covers in the UK market.

“We have long believed that add-on cover provides strong and relevant protection to consumers and is clearly even more relevant considering the future potential changes in the litigation funding landscape. Aviva recognise this too and we will work closely with them to ensure a smooth transition and the delivery of a high quality and responsive service to its policyholders.”

Arc Legal’s business model is designed to deliver greater flexibility and product development opportunities to insurers compared to the traditional legal expenses structure. For example, Arc Legal has an effective claims management process which provides a highly streamlined claims process to the customer and efficient operating model.

Helen Withers continued: “Our appointment by Aviva is another clear endorsement that the Arc Legal business model and approach to the provision of legal expenses in the UK and Ireland is relevant at both the niche market and large scale policy levels.”

The cover will continue to be underwritten by Aviva.