Clive Cowdery

Sir Clive Cowdery (born 26 May 1963) is an English businessman and philanthropist who made a personal fortune in the insurance industry, founding two FTSE100 insurers and a third insurer which has deployed circa $5bn in capital with $90bn in assets,[1] and has since donated large amounts to charity,[2] including the Resolution Foundation which he founded in 2005.[3]

Sir Clive Cowdery
Born (1963-05-26) 26 May 1963
Bristol, England
NationalityBritish
EducationClevedon Comprehensive School
Occupationbusinessman
Known forfounder of Resolution, a global life insurance group
Children6

Early life

Born of Anglo Danish parentage[4] in Bristol, England, in 1963, he is the second of five siblings.[5] He was educated at Clevedon Comprehensive School (now Clevedon Community School), and earned three O-levels and no A-levels.[5]

Career

Cowdery is founder and executive chairman of Resolution Life, a global life insurance group focusing on the acquisition and management of portfolios of life insurance policies.[6]

From 1998 to 2003, Cowdery was chairman and chief executive of General Electric Insurance Holdings, with operations in 12 countries in Europe.[7]

In 2003, Cowdery founded his private company Resolution, which invests in life insurance consolidation. Since then, Cowdery’s Resolution companies have deployed c. US$17 billion of equity in the acquisition, reinsurance, consolidation and management of life insurance companies. Together, these companies have served the needs of c. 13 million policyholders while managing over US$365 billion of assets.[8]

His first Resolution vehicle consolidated four major UK closed life insurance companies from Royal Sun Alliance, Swiss Life, Britannic and Santander (Abbey National Life).[9] The FTSE100 insurer was sold to Pearl Group in 2008.[10]

His second Resolution vehicle merged FTSE100 insurer Friends Provident with AXA's UK life business and other assets. The company was sold to Aviva in 2015.[11]

These two completed projects made significant total returns for shareholders.[12][13][14]

His current business, Resolution Life, was founded in 2018 and today manages c.$90 billion of assets, employs c. 1,800 people and provide services to over 3m policyholders. It has operations in Bermuda, the U.K., the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, all focused on assisting the restructuring of the primary life insurance industry globally.[1][15]

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019 his net worth was estimated at £137 million.[16]

Charitable works

Since formation of his Resolution vehicles Cowdery has devoted half of all proceeds to charity.[17] The Resolution Foundation, an independent social and economic research organisation set up by Cowdery in 2005, purports to be one of Britain's leading authorities on low earners[3] and the policy responses required to lift their living standards.[2][18][19]

Other professional interests

Cowdery is owner and publisher of the magazine Prospect[20] and a member of the governing council of The Institute for New Economic Thinking. Until February 2021,[21] he was also a director of Best for Britain, a group campaigning to stop Brexit.[22][23]

Honours

Cowdery was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to children and social mobility.[24][25]

Personal life

Cowdery lives in London and has six children.[5]

References
  1. "Resolution Life enters into reinsurance agreement with Allianz Life | Resolution Life". www.resolutionlife.com. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  2. Cooney, Rebecca. "Wealthiest people gave £3.2bn to charity in the past year". www.thirdsector.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  3. "Our mission • Resolution Foundation". Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  4. Ramesh, Randeep (28 February 2011). "Insurance tycoon Clive Cowdery goes on a mission to help the working poor". The Guardian.
  5. "Profile: Clive Cowdery: Class act who worked his way to top". The Scotsman. 14 August 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  6. "Resolution's Cowdery has $2 bln life insurance deal in sight". Reuters. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  7. "The Interview: The insurance entrepreneur soon to be knocking at the FTSE 100's door". The Independent. 10 June 2005. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  8. "About Us | Resolution Life". www.resolutionlife.com. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  9. "The rise of Resolution". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  10. Costello, Miles. "Upstart Cowdery shows how it's done". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  11. Costello, Miles. "Friends Life agrees £5bn takeover by Aviva". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  12. Gray, Alistair; Oakley, David; Massoudi, Arash (2 December 2014). "Aviva agrees £5bn takeover of Friends Life". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  13. Guthrie, Jonathan (2 December 2014). "Work to do before Aviva investors welcome Friends". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  14. "Interview | Clive Cowdery". the Guardian. 13 August 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  15. Artemis.bm, Steven Evans- (14 May 2021). "Cowdery's Resolution raises $1.6bn for legacy life insurance investments - Artemis.bm". Artemis.bm - The Catastrophe Bond, Insurance Linked Securities & Investment, Reinsurance Capital, Alternative Risk Transfer and Weather Risk Management site. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  16. "The Sunday Times Rich List 2019". The Sunday Times.
  17. Neville, Sarah (30 April 2015). "Clive Cowdery donates £50m to research living standards". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  18. "Insurance tycoon Clive Cowdery goes on a mission to help the working poor". the Guardian. 28 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  19. Neville, Sarah (30 April 2015). "Clive Cowdery donates £50m to research living standards". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  20. "Alan Rusbridger to be next editor of Prospect magazine". www.inpublishing.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  21. "Cessation". Companies House. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  22. "About Us". bestforbritain.org. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  23. "UK-EU OPEN POLICY LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  24. "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N2.
  25. "New Year's Honours 2016 list" (PDF). Government of the United Kingdom. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
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