Aviva has announced a five-year exclusive partnership agreement with Countrywide plc.

The major insurer will provide protection insurance to Countrywide’s mortgage and rental customers. The deal replaces a former distribution agreement with Friends Life, which started in 2002. Success in that partnership led to Aviva acquiring the Friends Life business, opening up space for new relationships.

Countrywide has more than 900 branches, which arranged more than 90,000 mortgages in 2016. The mortgage broker’s customers will now have easy access Aviva’s life insurance, income protection cover and critical illness cover.

“This is a significant distribution agreement with our long-standing partner Countrywide, which will see customers benefitting from Aviva’s strong digital capabilities,” said Daren Boys, strategic partnerships portfolio director at Aviva.

Home-buying and rental customers will benefit from protection insurance underwritten through Aviva’s ALPS platform (Aviva Life Protection Solutions), which provides an underwriting service and secure digital storage of policy documents.

Boys added: “Customers’ protection needs rightly come into sharp focus during the house buying or property rental process and our market leading digital ALPS protection proposition will help protect more lives, more easily through an enhanced customer experience.”


Related stories:
Insurtech app Brolly, co-founded by former Aviva underwriter, secures £1 million
Aviva and Founders Factory reveal development of new firm, support of five start-ups