Scottish Widows’ London flit ‘won’t impact Edinburgh workforce’

The insurer also said there will be no impact on customers from its decision to move some of its business to the UK capital.

The switch of the long-term insurance business to a company registered in London would also have “no impact” on its 3,000-strong Edinburgh workforce, the firm, which was founded two centuries ago, said as it also stressed that the move was not linked to the independence referendum of 2014 or the looming vote on the UK’s membership of the European Union.

Under the move, which was rubber-stamped by the High Court in London at the end of last year, all the policies of various group companies – including Clerical Medical Managed Funds, Halifax Life, Pensions Management, Scottish Widows, Scottish Widows Annuities, Scottish Widows Unit Funds and St Andrew’s Life Assurance – have been transferred to a single entity called Clerical Medical Investment Group (CMIG).

CMIG was then renamed as Scottish Widows Limited and its registered office address changed to 25 Gresham Street, London – the headquarters of parent firm Lloyds Banking Group, which reports its annual results later this week.

In a statement, Scottish Widows, said: “In December last year, we made a technical change to enable us to consolidate all of the long-term UK insurance business of the Scottish Widows Group, previously written in eight authorised entities, into CMIG, which was registered in London. We wrote to our customers last year to inform them of the change.

“As part of this process CMIG was renamed as Scottish Widows Limited. The ultimate parent body, Scottish Widows Group Limited, continues to be registered in Edinburgh, as does Lloyds Banking Group.

“This has no impact on the operations of the business, those who work for Scottish Widows, or our customers. Our headquarters and the majority of our staff are in Edinburgh, as they have been since we were founded over 200 years ago.

“The purpose was to simplify the structure of the insurance business which will make us more efficient, ease regulatory reporting requirements and help the group make better use of our resources.”

Scottish Widows’ head office in Edinburgh was last year sold to an overseas investor for more than £105 million.

More details about the move are expected to be announced alongside Lloyds’ results tomorrow.

A spokesman for the company said: “The purpose was to simplify the structure of the insurance business which will make us more efficient, ease regulatory reporting requirements and help the group make better use of our resources including capital.

“There will be no impact on colleagues or customers.

“Lloyds Banking Group has a very clear strategy, which includes becoming a simpler and more efficient business which delivers sustainable growth.

“This is a standard legal and regulatory process that has been carried out previously in other parts of Lloyds Banking Group.”