Equitable Life signs £120m services deal with HCL

Insurance firm hopes 30-year outsourcing contract will help deliver cost predictability

Equitable Life is handing over core processing tasks to an outsourcing firm

Equitable Life. the world's oldest mutual insurer, has signed a $200m (£120m) services deal with Indian IT supplier HCL Technologies in an attempt to cut costs.

The contract will run for at least 30 years and is expected to generate savings of about £8m in the first full year of the contract. The firm anticipates that future savings could be more than £100m.

Under the terms of the services contract, HCL will cover areas such as IT operational support, policy administration and financial, actuarial and call centre services.

Equitable Life’s investment portfolio is managed by HBOS – now part of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG). HCL will take over the core processes from LBG in March 2011, while transformation and migration will start immediately.

According to HCL, some staff from Lloyds Banking Group working on the Equitable Life account will move over to the outsourcer, along with a small number of Equitable Life staff.

“This is one of the most important decisions in [the company's] history. I am confident that [HCL] will provide great service and great value to policyholders. I want to help restore policyholders’ savings and this is an important step in that direction,” said Equitable Life chief executive Chris Wiscarson.