LONDON, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

John Pollock, CEO for Legal & General's Risk business commenting on this great achievement said: "We are absolutely delighted and very proud to be the winner of this award, Lifesearch Protection Provider of the Decade. The award is recognition that we have been doing 'the right thing' for customers, over a long period and it has now paid off!

What makes Legal & General and in particular our Protection business really stand out is the way that we deliver on our promises to our customers. We've worked hard over the past 10 years to deliver quality products and services to ensure all our customers receive and continue to receive the best possible cover we can offer them.

We are a market leader across individual and group protection. We are the biggest player in the intermediated mortgage market in the UK with a market share of 25%. Our aim is to build on this success with the future development of our online protection systems and where appropriate, roll out innovative protection products and service that supports the evolving needs of our customers."

Legal & General's Retail Protection business has paid more claims in 2012 than ever before. A total of £483 million combined death and critical illness claims in 2012, up from £441 million in 2011 and over £12.billion paid out since 2004.

Duncan Finch, Managing Director for Legal & General's Retail Protection business said: "Our priority is to help people when they are at their most vulnerable and to pay as many claims as we can, as soon as we can. Customers who are having to cope with a critical illness want the peace of mind that their claim is paid so they can concentrate on what is the priority, their health and hopefully possible recovery.

We believe that the expertise and experience we have in this market means customers and advisers know that they can trust us and that we will be there every step of the way, to efficiently manage the protection cover business they arrange with us."

Link to Lifesearch for more details on the awards http://www.lifesearch.co.uk/Default.aspx and Legal & General's individual protection business: http://www.legalandgeneral.com/life-cover/

Notes to editors:

Retail Protection delivered sales 15% higher than in 2011 at £151m (2011: £131m). Automated underwriting provides flexible capacity and enabled 78% of cases to get a decision at the point of sale.

Group Protection sales grew substantially by 52% to £70m (2011: £46m) as Legal & General utilised the opportunities presented by auto enrolment and the continuing trend of businesses and the public sector to insure their employee liabilities.

Link to Results release:

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/LGEN/2355142145x0x642450/9de6ea30-87b8-4919-8b17-2580d14ec35e/2012_Preliminary_Results_.pdf

Legal & General also recently celebrated 10 years of award winning excellence in the development and delivery of underwriting expertise, in conjunction with Cardiff University. Over the last ten years we have worked together to ensure we deliver relevant and quality learning that meets the business needs and which ultimately allows us to make quicker and more informed underwriting decisions for the benefits of our customers.

SOURCE Legal & General