history
Right from the start…
Ecclesiastical was founded in 1887 by Churchmen, largely to protect churches from the consequences of fire.
Today…
We’ve grown and changed to become a broad, financial services organisation dedicated to meeting the needs of customers from all walks of life at home and overseas.
Our customers depend on us to protect their property and finances. They enjoy the benefit of knowing that they invested wisely, by dealing with an established insurer and an expert team of financial advisers*.
And they also appreciate the fact that we are one of the UK’s top Ten Corporate Donors**, and have donated almost £48 million in charitable grants over the past 15 years.
Our credentials
We’re a British owned business with group assets of over £1 billion and net assets of over £200 million. We have around 175,000 customers across the globe
We’re regularly audited by industry rating agencies such as A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s. These agencies give us a current ratings of A and A- respectively, a good indication of our financial strength and stability
We’re authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and work hard to maintain the quality of our service, which is recognised by our BS EN ISO 9001:2000 certification
Ecclesiastical – how we’ve developed…
1887 – The Ecclesiastical Buildings Fire Office is formed.
1895 – The company expands from writing fire business into general insurance and reinsurance so we change our name to Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc.
1900s – A stockbroker advises on investing the company’s funds, the forerunners of today’s Investment Manager.
1917 – We become a founder member of the British Insurance Association.
1919 – The company begins offering life assurance.
1924 – A takeover bid is rejected. We have maintained our independence ever since.
1937 – We donate £50,000 in charitable grants.
1957 – We expand into motor insurance.
1959 – We offer travel insurance for the first time.
1976 – Beaufort House, Gloucester becomes the Head Office for Ecclesiastical.
1978 – We launch specialist policies for schools and care homes known today as education insurance and care insurance.
1979 – We acquire what is now Ecclesiastical Life Limited – a proprietary Life company.
1985 – We launch a property owners product.
1988 – We launched a socially responsible investment fund – one of the first companies to do so.
2000 – We first offered wedding insurance.
2003 – Decentralisation from Head Office into the regions saw the opening of seven Regional Underwriting Centres to deliver prompt, professional service to brokers.
2004 – We’re the UK’s 8th largest charitable donor.**
2006 - Launch of Ecclesiastical's new brand to help build the future success of our company.
2007 - Re-branded our Irish business to ensure they share the same visual identity, mission, vision and values.
Today – We’re a specialist insurer for organisations or businesses such as schools, churches, care homes and charities. We are one of the largest British-owned insurers. Our group assets are over £1 billion and net assets of over £200 million.
* We can now also offer advice on a wide range of carefully researched products including savings, investments, pensions and protection products from some of the top financial services companies in the UK.
** Source: The Guide to UK Company Giving published by the Directory of Social Change (2005)
