About Eagle Star Life

Eagle Star is a financial services company, employing over 477 people in Ireland (as at 31st December 2003). The company has over 180,000 people insured and is firmly established as one of the country's most successful life insurance businesses, offering a range of pension, protection and investment solutions. Eagle Star is also a market leader in providing information online through its innovative website, www.eaglestarlife.ie.

Our History

Shield Life, the original name for Eagle Star's life company in Ireland, was launched in Ireland in 1978. In 1983 the company moved to new headquarters in Blackrock and in 1990 took on the corporate identity of Eagle Star. Internationally renowned as a financial services company, Eagle Star in Ireland was part of the international Eagle Star Group whose origins dated back to 1807. In 1998 Eagle Star became part of Zurich Financial Services. Now, as an Irish company and as part of one of the world's largest insurance groups, Eagle Star Life is well positioned to provide tailored solutions to the pension, investment and protection needs of Irish individuals and companies.

Eagle Star Life became a founding member of Business in the Community Ireland (BITC) in 2000, to show a tangible commitment to Corporate Responsibility and a determination to focus strategically on CR within the company through a process of systematic measuring. The company was the first BITC Ireland member and first financial services company in Ireland to issue a full spectrum Corporate Responsibility Report.

Our Success

Employees

Eagle Star is committed to maintaining a staff of highly professional and motivated people. Our employees are highly trained, highly educated and hold professional qualifications from various institutions such as the Institute of Actuaries, Chartered Insurance Institute of Ireland, Irish Institute of Pension Managers, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Investment Management and Research, Marketing Institute of Ireland, Life Insurance Association and Institute of Personnel Development.

48% of the total of Eagle Star staff are third level graduates. 34% of the total of Eagle Star staff hold a professional qualification.

Eagle Star's business success can be attributed to the considerable efforts of staff who in our technically progressive business environment turn challenges into success stories.

Management Approach

Eagle Star's management team has a strong professional ethos and commitment. All decisions for Ireland are made, autonomously in Ireland by Eagle Star's Blackrock based team. The company's customer solutions and marketing innovations are also developed in-house.

Award for Top Supporting Management Team went to Eagle Star at the 2003 Irish Broker Association Service Excellence Awards.

Investment Performance

Eagle Star Life has a well-established in-house investment team based in Blackrock, Co. Dublin which is responsible for funds under management of €4.0 billion of which pension assets amount to €2.2 billion (as at 30th June 2004). The company's investment strategy delivers investment performance, security and choice.

Over the last decade, our reputation for investment performance and service has been second to none.

The company has been ranked in the top three in the last four annual Irish Independent/Irish Times Personal Pension Surveys, for ten-year unit-linked maturity values.

Service

Service standards are very important to Eagle Star. Over the years it has won a number of industry service awards, including the inaugural Professional Insurance Brokers Association Service Award of Excellence (awarded November 2003) and the Irish Brokers Association Service Excellence Award for 2003 and from 1991 - 1998.

E-initiatives

Eagle Star is leading the way in terms of delivering online service enhancements to insurance intermediaries and customers through a unique series of secure extranets as part of our website. These secure extranets include a Client Centre and Broker Centre, which feature a Sales, Reports, Underwriting, Claims, Funds and Compliance section.

These services allow financial advisors and customers online access to view personal policy information electronically and to keep track of the performance of their funds.

Customers can also instantly obtain indicative future values for their policies across a selected range of pension and investment products.

"Just to say what a superb website this is. I have never come across a more user-friendly or useful site."
An Independent Intermediary

This year Eagle Star has launched a Doctor Centre, which allows doctors to quickly and securely complete any information that is required by a patient when taking out life and/or serious illness cover. This ensures a faster response for those looking for a speedy turnaround to a proposal for mortgage protection cover.

Through our e-business developments we can offer greater flexibility, choice and service to our customers and we believe that greater access to information promotes corporate accountability and transparency.

Product Design

Eagle Star is committed to providing our customers with a range of unique and innovative pension, investment and protection solutions - a range of solutions to meet each of our customers' specific goals. As a leader in the pensions market, Eagle Star recognises the importance of pension provision for all. This is why we were pleased to be one of the first companies to be approved to provide Personal Retirement Savings Accounts. These products are intended by the Government to help those without adequate cover to provide for their future retirement. PRSAs are an easily accessible, low cost option for everyone not just those in employment.

The following is a list of our products:

Pensions

• Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs)
• Employer-sponsored Pensions
• Personal Pensions
• Additional Voluntary Contributions
• Approved Retirement Funds
• Buy-out Bonds
• Self-directed Pensions

Savings and Investments

• Lump Sum Investment Bonds
• Regular Premium Savings Plans
• Guaranteed Deposits
• Corporate Deposits

Protection

• Guaranteed Life and Serious Illness Term cover
• Guaranteed Mortgage Protection
• Permanent Health Insurance to cover disability
• Pension Guaranteed Term Protection

Business Insurance

• Partnership Insurance
• Co-Director Insurance
• Corporate Company Director Insurance
• Key-person Insurance

The Eagle Star Brand

The Eagle Star logo reflects what the company stands for:

Market research on the Eagle Star brand as a pension/PRSA provider in Ireland has shown that its brand awareness is very strong and as a pension brand is within the top three brands in the market in terms of spontaneous and prompted recall. This research also showed that for the ABC1 social group, Eagle Star is the number one pensions/PRSA brand in the market.

According to research carried out by LIMRA (Life Insurance Market Research Association), the brand is associated with a high quality, innovative and modern company that leads the way in technological advancements for brokers and has a dynamic range of products.

Source:
Lansdowne Market Research: Published January 2004
LIMRA Broker Opinion Survey: Published January 2004