Life assurance firm Pearl has outsourced its business processes in a £486m 12-year deal.

Under the terms of the contract the closed fund group will transfer back office processes to Diligenta, a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services.

Pearl's managing director of life services, Jonathon Moss, says the deal represents a new chapter for the business.

'It is good news all around for customers, shareholders and staff. The new arrangements provide certainty over a major portion of the cost base well into the future,' he said.

The main aim of the contract is to consolidate Pearl's current 11 finance and admin systems into a single platform to streamline the way it deals with the costs of its business.

'This is very important protection for policyholders because over the long-term it will maintain the unit cost per policy at competitive levels,' Moss said.

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