Friends Life is a life assurance company formed in 2011, comprising the merged UK operations of Friends Provident

Friends Provident

Friends Provident was an organisation offering life insurance based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as a mutual Friendly Society for Quakers, although it was demutualised in 2001 and became a publicly listed company, no longer linked with the Religious Society of Friends...

 and the life assurance businesses acquired from Bupa

Bupa

Bupa is a large British healthcare organisation, with bases on three continents and more than ten million customers in over 200 countries. It is a private healthcare company, in direct contrast to the UK's National Health Services, which are tax-funded healthcare systems and do not require private...

 and AXA

AXA

AXA S.A. is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run businesses, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies engage in life, health and other forms of...

 UK. The new company began trading in March 2011 with over 5 million customers worldwide.

The head office is located at One New Change London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 EC4M 9EF. The registered office is at Pixham End

Pixham

Pixham is a village in Surrey located approximately 1 km north east of Dorking at the confluence of the River Mole and the Pipp Brook.-History:...

, Dorking in Surrey. It is a member of the Association of British Insurers

Association of British Insurers

The Association of British Insurers or ABI is a trade association made up of insurance companies in the United Kingdom.-History:The ABI began in 1985 after several specialised insurance industry trade associations, including the British Insurance Association, the Life Offices’ Association, the Fire...

 and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority

Financial Services Authority

The Financial Services Authority is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Its board is appointed by the Treasury and the organisation is structured as a company limited by guarantee and owned by the UK government. Its main...

. It was listed (as Friends Provident plc) on the London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

 and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index

FTSE 100 Index

The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....

 until being acquired by buyout firm Resolution

Resolution Limited

Resolution Limited is a Guernsey-incorporated investment vehicle which has the stated intent of forcing consolidation in the British life insurance industry...

 in November 2009.

Operations

Friends Life operates from eight countries around the world including: United Kingdom, Germany, Luxembourg, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur (AmLife) and the Isle of Man. The group manages funds of £111 billion (as at 31 December 2010) on behalf of its customers. Friends Life is the 5th largest Life and Pensions company ranked by UK market capitalisation.

Other companies within the Friends Life group include: Friends Provident International Limited, Sesame Bankhall Group, financial partners business AG (fpb AG) and Lombard International Assurance SA. Friends Life group also has a 30% stake in the Malaysian Life assurance company Amlife.

They are the title sponsors of the Friends Life t20 cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 league organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board

England and Wales Cricket Board

The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...

.