Our history
2010s
Recovery and infrastructure developments
2017
The US became increasingly important to the group’s future. In 2017, we increased US assets to $189 billion, expanded our US pension risk transfer business and made progress on our strategy to develop our US Insurance business through digital capabilities.
We showed our commitment to helping our communities with activities aimed at overcoming the stigma of mental health, with support of ‘World Mental Health Day’, ‘Children’s Mental Health Week’ and the ‘Not a Red Card’ campaign.
2016
We played our part in helping to solve the UK’s housing crisis with new build-to-rent developments in Bristol, Salford and Walthamstow.
Our lifetime mortgage business tripled its sales, advancing over £600 million to help elderly release the equity in their homes to boost their retirement finances.
2015
We jointly announced a £15 billion regeneration scheme.
Our development with English Cities fund in Canning Town
We entered the lifetime mortgage market by acquiring New Life Home Finance limited, to help people fund retirement through releasing money from their homes.
2014
Our total worldwide assets reached more than $1 trillion (£709 billion).
March 2014
The chancellor, George Osborne, announced radical pension reforms, encouraging more people to consider alternatives to annuities.
We secured the UK’s largest pension buy-in and buyout schemes through ICI and TRW, increasing the security of over £4 billion of pensions.
2013
We acquired 46.5% of UK house builder, CALA Homes.
View from one of CALA Homes’ developments in London
2012
We produced our ‘deadline to the breadline’ report showing that people have on average only 14 days savings if a breadwinner has to stop working. We also launched ‘Skyman’, a digital app aimed to highlight the importance of life insurance in a fun way.
We welcomed our first customers saving for retirement in the government’s new auto-enrolment scheme, with major schemes for Boots, Asda and the Co-op.
July to August
London Olympic games held.
2011
A first £ billion bulk annuity deal was completed with Turner and Newall pension scheme to ensure the company’s pension scheme can continue to pay pensions to its members.
2010
December
The UK saw the coldest December for 100 years.
We paid out over £30 million of household insurance weather-related claims in one month.
Our IndiaFirst joint venture was launched, selling 130,000 policies in its first year of operation.
2000s
Financial crisis and growth through partnerships
2009
Depth of financial crisis: our dividend was cut and our share price fell to below 25p.
2008
September
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy proceedings, the largest bankruptcy in US history.
Our partnership with Nationwide Building Society was launched to offer customers life insurance and savings plans.
2004
Our market leading ‘Mortgage Club’ launched to help borrowers find good value mortgage deals. Ten years later we were arranging over £40 billion of new mortgages each year in the UK
In 2004 UK new mortgage transactions exceeded £280 billion as the average house price hit £140,000.
2003
We were awarded ‘e-commerce provider of the year’ and ‘overall e-commerce company of the year’ in the life and pensions category.
2002
We launched a £768 million Rights Issue to finance the group’s new business growth.
2001
We entered into a partnership with Barclays Bank. We’ve recently celebrated our 14th year of protecting Barclays’ customers.
September
‘9 11’ ‘Twin Towers’ attacks in New York.
Assets under management exceeded £100 billion.
2000
We launched online term assurance and the first UK paperless life assurance application system for both consumers and IFAs.
1990s
Early days of the internet
1999
First company to provide ‘stakeholder pension guarantee’ giving customers low charges in advance of stakeholder pension launch in 2001.
1998
Legal & General Australia is sold.
1997
We launched an award-winning website.
Helping customers plan their finances online
1995
First company to enter into a joint venture with a building society, the Woolwich Building Society, to provide household insurance cover.
1995 to 2000
UK internet access increased from 1.1 million people in 1995 to 15.4 million in 2000.
1990s
Our assets under management were over £82 billion.
1980s
International expansion
1987
March
Chancellor Nigel Lawson introduces Personal Equity Plans making equity ownership more widely available.
1986
October
27 October saw the ‘big bang’ reforms of financial markets in the UK, giving London a powerful global position.
1984
January
We were a founding member of the newly established FTSE 100 index.
1980s
We entered the European market.
We bought two life insurance companies in the US: Banner Life and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. Now over a million people in the US own our life insurance policies.
1970s
Investment management business launched
1979
We are listed on the London Stock Exchange on 2 July.
London Stock Exchange
1974
April
On 6 April the popular music quartet Abba won the Eurovision song contest with ‘Waterloo’.
1970
Legal & General Investments established. Later to become Legal & General investment management and manage assets for pension funds, institutional and private clients.
1970s
Our assets exceeded £2.5 billion.
1900s - 1960s
Diversification and growth. Legal & General in the two World Wars
1960s
Our assets were valued at £1billion by end of the decade.
1956
We established our life business in Australia.
1940s
We were forced to relocate offices during the war. We finally settled at a former school in Kingswood, Surrey. We soon outgrew the school and built an office in Kingswood housing over 3,000 people.
1939 to 1945
More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed in the London blitz.
1939
September
The outbreak of World War Two. It lasted until September 1945.
1934
There were 7,343 deaths and 231,603 injuries from road casualties.
1930s
We entered the US market through the acquisition of the pensions business of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York.
1929
We lifted the restriction that our customers (society members) had to be from the legal profession. We’ve now over 10 million people that rely on us for their financial security.
1920s
We began to offer fire and accident insurance to meet the new popularity of car and plane travel.
1914 to 1918
The first world war saw 16 million deaths globally. The 1918 flu pandemic killed up to 40 million people.
We paid a significantly higher number of claims in the First World War because of war casualties. This was worsened by the influenza pandemic of 1918.
Our assets were valued at £4 million, making us the second largest insurance company in Great Britain doing only ‘ordinary life business’.
1880s
Early years. First policies and infrastructure developments
1889
We opened our first office outside London, in Manchester. We now have offices in places such as Cardiff, Chicago, Hove, Kingswood and Birmingham
1852
We authorised £60,000 worth of credit to the Regent Canal Company.
1850s
We made our first property developments, investing heavily in the development of Birkenhead.
1841
We loaned £20,000 to the Stockton and Hartlepool Railway in an early example of direct infrastructure investments.
March to September
Manchester, Leeds, London and Brighton railways open
1840
Thomas Smith, our first policy holder died. We paid out a claim for £1,000 even though at that time we had only received around £177 in premiums. (In 2014 we paid £680 million in death claims, receiving £3 billion in insurance premiums.)
1839
Market capitalisation of £1million.
1836
June
Six London lawyers founded Legal & General.
We issued our first policy for a solicitor called Thomas Smith.
First policy document
March
Charles Dickens publishes ‘The Pickwick Papers’.