Aviva boss sets out fintech acquisition plan

Insurance giant Aviva, which employs 2,500 staff across hubs in Perth and Bishopriggs, is looking to turn itself into a fintech business as it prepares acquisitions in artificial intelligence and big data.

The new direction has been outlined by chief executive Mark Wilson at the company’s self-styled “digital garage” hub in east London.

Mr Wilson said Aviva’s healthy balance sheet puts it in a strong position to move forward with the strategy and the firm has already been contacted by major technology businesses.

Mr Wilson said: “I don’t mean billions, but we will do acquisitions if we find the right things, maybe in big data, maybe in platforms.

“There is nothing imminent, but we can do this because we have built a pretty good balance sheet, which we can now use.”

The ball has already been set rolling on the programme following a deal with Tencent, a $300 billion Chinese tech firm.

The plan also builds on the launch of Aviva’s “digital garage” in Hoxton, a hub used for product development.

The site was opened in 2015 and has already produced Ask It Never, a feature which allows customers to buy insurance without filling in endless forms, and the Myaviva app, which puts customer policies in one place online.

Speaking at the location, Mr Wilson added: “We do want to change Aviva into being a fintech. It’s quite weird because we have been getting all these inbound calls from the big names in Silicon Valley.

“I had a call from the CEO of one of the big ones last week, he called me up and I said ‘why?’ and he said because ‘no one else is doing it.’”