Royal & Sunalliance (RSA) Insurance Group has announced plans to sell its subsidiary, Royal & Sunalliance Trust Company, including its Channel Island and Jersey operations, to The Capita Group for £24m.
The deal is part of RSA's strategy to focus on its core insurance and life insurance business. Paul Atkinson, UK communications director, said: “We have been offloading non-core operations. Given the scale of RSA worldwide, the Trust Company is small – there are only 60 people employed in the UK and, in total, RSA employs 24,000.”
He added that Capita would make the RSA Trust Company central to its business operations. The move comes just weeks after RSA announced plans to sell its intermediary chain Swinton to MMA Insurance for £54m.
No redundancies are planned at Swinton, which employs 1,700 people. RSA Trust Company offers a range of corporate trusts to customers. It also acts as a corporate trustee and a custodian for offshore unit trusts.
This week, RSA chief executive Bob Mendelsohn scotched rumours of a sale of the RSA's life arm to GE Capital. He said a sale was, in theory, an option, but the insurer had not entered into any talks.
