Age UK Enterprises wins at British Insurance Awards

AGE UK ENTERPRISES PICKS UP CUSTOMER CARE AWARD AT THE 2010 BRITISH INSURANCE AWARDS

Age UK Enterprises* scooped up the ‘Customer Care Award' at the 2010 British Insurance Awards, presented in front of 2,000 people from across the industry at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Age UK Enterprises saw off competition from well respected competitors to win the hotly contested category. The judges singled out Age UK Enterprises for recognition, thanks to its exceptional service provided by Fortis (Insurance UK) to Age UK Enterprises' circa 460,000 insurance policies', as well as for glowing customer testimonials with a ‘world-class' customer satisfaction score of 85 per cent, and 89 per cent of customers saying that they would recommend Age UK Enterprises/Fortis (Insurance UK).

Commenting on the success, Gordon Morris, Managing Director, Age UK Enterprises said: "Age Concern Enterprises is delighted that Fortis has been recognised for the outstanding customer service it provides to our customers through the contact centre. We selected Fortis as our long term partner in 2006 and since then it has continued to exceed the high levels of service we pride ourselves on delivering to our customers.

"We frequently survey our customers to ensure that we continue to improve the services we deliver across all areas of the business. We are fortunate to work with Fortis who respond to the demands of our customers and continue to deliver outstanding service delivery to over almost 600,000 customer enquiries each year through the Age UK Enterprises' call centre."

Commenting on the success, Barry Smith, Chief Executive, Fortis UK said: "The achievement of this prestigious industry award is a real testament to the commitment and hard work of the Fortis employees and the support we receive from Age UK Enterprises and its customers. Also, the past year has been a significant one for Fortis as we got appointed as Age UK Enterprises, the new force combining Age Concern and Help the Aged's commercial operations, sole insurance solutions provider for all policyholders. This, together with winning the Customer Care Award, demonstrates a major move for Fortis and highlights our desire to continue to build our expertise in the later life market."

Age UK Enterprises is a limited company that brings together the financial services arms of Help the Aged (intune) and Age Concern. With over one million customers, it is one of the most powerful financial services providers for those in later life.

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For further information please contact Charlotte Elmehagen or Jo Roberts on 0207 360 7877 or ageuk@teamspiritpr.com.

*This is the trading name for Age Concern Enterprises Lid and is the trading arm of Age UK

NOTES TO EDITORS

Age UK is the new force combining Age Concern and Help the Aged. The Age UK family includes Age Scotland, Age Cymru, Age NI and Age Concern Enterprises - the trading arm of Age UK.

Age UK, a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England: registered office address 207-221 Pentonville Road, London N1 9UZ, company number 6825798, registered charity number 1128267.

AGE CONCERN ENTERPRISES

To fund its charitable activities, Age UK needs a constant flow of independent income. It seeks to achieve this through a balance of traditional fund raising and trading activities.

The trading activities, through Age Concern Enterprises, (ACEnt) enable it to meet the needs of older people, through products specifically designed to meet these needs; quality products such as general insurance and energy Services.

ACEnt incorporates: Age UK Energy, Age Concern Insurance Services and Age UK Guaranteed Funeral Plans. See our Buy section for details.

Age Concern Enterprises is part of the Social Enterprise Coalition; an organisation that represents a wide range of social enterprises with the overarching aim of working in partnership for the creation of effective sector products, services and knowledge-sharing networks to help stimulate and encourage growth, development and sustainability of social enterprises in England.

Age Concern Enterprises Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for insurance mediation (311438). Age Concern Enterprises Limited is registered in England and Wales No. 3156159, registered office: Astral House, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER. VAT Number: 710 3843 66. Age Concern Enterprises Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Age UK (registered charity No. 1128267 and registered company No. 06825798) and donates its net profits to Age UK.

Age Concern England (charity number 261794) has merged with Help the Aged (charity number 272786) to form Age UK, a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England: registered office address 207-221 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9UZ, company number 6825798, registered charity number 1128267.

Age Concern Enterprises is based at 4th floor, 207 - 221, Pentonville Road, London, N1 9UZ.

FORTIS (INSURANCE UK)

Fortis (Insurance UK) is a leading provider of award-winning personal lines, commercial lines and protection insurance solutions in the UK. Fortis distributes a range of channels including brokers, IFAs, intermediaries, affinity partners and the Internet, as well as through its retail strategy via its wholly or partially-owned companies (RIAS, Fortis Insurance Solutions, Affinity Solutions Ltd, Text2Insure and InsureTECH Systems).

Insuring in the region of 7 million customers and working with a range of partners, Fortis is recognised for delivering consistent and high-quality customer experiences and is the only general insurer ever to achieve the Gold Standard for Insurance in 2008 and 2009. At the end of 2009, Fortis reported record non-life Gross Written Premiums of £805 million and life New Annual Premiums of £15 million having only launched into the Protection Market in 2008. The insurer employs almost 3,000 people with a head office based in Eastleigh and others in Belfast, Bournemouth, Gloucester, Haywards Heath, London, Redditch, Reigate and Stoke-on-Trent.

Fortis Holding is an international insurance company with a heritage spanning more than 180 years. Ranked among the top 20 insurers in Europe, Fortis has chosen to concentrate its business activities in Europe and Asia, which together make up the largest share of the global insurance market. It is an undisputed leader in the Belgian market for individual life and employee benefits, as well as a leading non-life player through AG Insurance. Internationally, Fortis has a strong presence in the UK, where it is the third largest private car insurer. The company also has subsidiaries in France, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine and Hong Kong. Fortis has a strong track record in developing partnerships with key distributors in different markets and successfully operates partnerships in Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, China, Malaysia, India and Thailand. Fortis employs more than 10,000 people and has annual inflows of around EUR 15 billion.

Fortis's assets include a 75% stake in AG Insurance; 100% of Fortis Insurance International; a 45% stake in Royal Park Investments; and other financial assets and liabilities of various financing vehicles.

Fortis (Insurance, UK) achieved top position for financial services with Age Concern customers in the 2009 UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), conducted by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS). Fortis achieved an overall customer satisfaction index score of 85 out of 100 for its service quality against a national average of 74.*

100% of Age Concern Travel claims customers surveyed, believe that Fortis handled their claim in a fair and reasonable manner. 90% of customers rated the time taken to reach a claims resolution in line with or exceeding their expectations.**

*Survey conducted with Age Concern Travel customers who purchased a travel insurance policy from Fortis.

**Age Concern Insurance Services claims handling survey December 2009 - conducted by Critical Research.

For more information on any of the Fortis UK businesses, please contact the Fortis press office on Tel: 023 8035 2754 or e-mail press.uk@fortis-uk.com.