Alliance and Leicester Insurance

Alliance and Leicester plc was formed following the merger of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society back in 1985. The Alliance and Leicester Group provides many different types of products including mortgages, current accounts and personal loans. Recently introduced to the UK market, Alliance and Leicester Insurance sits nicely in their portfolio and compliments these multiple personal finance offerings.

Alliance and Leicester floated on the London Stock Exchange in April 1997 entering the FTSE 100 and generating windfall payments to members of up to £5,000. Today, Alliance and Leicester has swiftly become a recognised name on many High Streets across the country. The Alliance and Leicester Insurance products have been introduced as an online service which benefits from awareness and promotions from within their many branches.

As with many of the banking brands, the policies sold by Alliance and Leicester Insurance are actually provided by a number of different insurance companies - rather than Alliance and Leicester Insurance itself. In the case of Alliance and Leicester Car Insurance, they use Equity Insurance Brokers to provide their policies. Alliance and Leicester Home Insurance uses another reputable name, Zurich Insurance, whilst Legal & General Insurance supply the Alliance and Leicester Insurance team with critical illness cover, family life insurance, income protection and other related products. Fortis Insurance complete the set - they provide the final product in the stable for the Alliance and Leicester Insurance service - travel insurance.

The ability of Alliance and Leicester Insurance to offer policies alongside their other financial services provides customers with the opportunity to seek financial advice covering nearly all aspects of their finances in one place - online or in branches located across the UK. The fact that Alliance and Leicester use reputable insurance companies to provide these services gives them the benefit of expert knowledge and years of experience from the start.

In 2008, Alliance and Leicester (including the Alliance and Leicester Insurance division) was purchased by Santander (the Spanish large banking group which boasts a huge international reach).