Phoenix Group has entered a strategic partnership with Wipro under a business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement, following a review of its IT strategy and long-term operational priorities.
Under the arrangement, Wipro will assume responsibility for life and pension administration services for the ReAssure business and take over management of the ALPHA platform. The deal is worth £500 million (about US$645 million) and will run for the next 10 years.
The agreement is designed to support the ReAssure transformation program by simplifying operations and focusing resources on other core strategic initiatives. As part of the deal, Wipro has committed to investing in the ALPHA platform and related services to align with Phoenix’s customer experience objectives.
The partnership with Wipro is also intended to operate alongside Phoenix’s ongoing relationship with TCS Diligenta. Phoenix Group said that TCS Diligenta remains a key strategic partner and will continue to provide support for new business capabilities.
The company’s long-term platform strategy anticipates more than 8 million existing policies will be managed on TCS’s BaNCS platform.
Phoenix Group CEO Andy Briggs (pictured above) said partnering with Wipro will eliminate the need to migrate ReAssure customers or incur the cost of platform replacement.
The partnership also comes amid notable developments within the life and pensions business in the UK.
According to IBISWorld, industry revenue was estimated at £37.0 billion for the 2024-2025 period, despite a compound annual decline of 3.6% over the preceding five years.
In contrast, GlobalData reported that the gross written premium for the UK's life insurance market reached £216.3 billion ($267.2 billion) in 2023, with projections indicating a compound annual growth rate of over 2% from 2024 to 2028.
The pension risk transfer market continued its robust expansion in 2024. Fitch Ratings highlighted that the UK life insurance sector was the only one in Europe with an improving outlook for 2024, largely due to strong, profitable growth in pension risk transfers.
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