Glasgow-based mutual Scottish Friendly announced on Wednesday a substantial acquisition of life and pensions policies from financial services provider Canada Life.

The deal sees Scottish Friendly’s assets under management increase by £2.4 billion to over £5 billion and number of members increase by 127,000 to around 700,000.

“Following a strategic review by Canada Life’s UK operations and a competitive tender process, the financial services provider has decided to transfer this significant book of life and pensions business to Scottish Friendly,” said the Glasgow mutual.

Products transferring across as part of the transaction include endowments, whole of life policies, investment bonds, pensions and protection policies, mostly written before 2003.

Scottish Friendly has a history of acquiring large books of insurance business, most recently a section of business from Mobius Life in 2018, as part of its continued strategy to diversify and grow.

Scottish Friendly CEO Jim Galbraith said: “This is a landmark acquisition for Scottish Friendly and helps to consolidate us as a leading mutual and a significant player in UK financial services.

“It forms part of our three-pronged strategy of organic growth, business process outsourcing for partners and mergers and consolidation, delivering the strongest possible growth and customer care for our members.”

Richard Priestley, MD & Executive Director, Insurance Division, Canada Life UK, said: “This is an excellent move for both organisations, for Scottish Friendly by increasing their scale and for Canada Life to concentrate its resources around its core business strategy.

“Our priority in this transfer was ensuring customers receive the highest standards of care both during this transition period, and beyond.

“Scottish Friendly has a great reputation in this area which gives us confidence that customers will be in good hands.”