HCL Technologies (HCL) has won a service contract worth $200m from Equitable Life Assurance Society. The contract, which starts in March 2011, is expected to deliver cost benefits to Equitable Life’s policyholders through the transfer of core processing and support activities required to run its closed book of business.
Reportedly, Equitable Life has examined tenders from many leading companies before selecting HCL. Under this contract, HCL will be providing services including policy administration, finance, actuarial services, IT operational support and call centre services. Transformation and migration will begin immediately and the company will take over the core processes from HBOS in March 2011.
According to HCL, Equitable Life expects to make cost savings of approximately £8m in the first full year of the contract and significantly improve cost certainty for the whole of the run off of its closed book of business. Future savings and predictability of costs means Equitable Life can reduce its provision for future costs by an amount in excess of £100m.
Reportedly, the transfer is expected to place over half a million policies under administration with HCL IBS. Service levels for policy holders will be retained, complying with the FSA’s Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) regime, and the costs of regulatory change will be absorbed by HCL IBS.
Stuart Drew, senior vice president of HCL Technologies, said: This is a major win for HCL IBS since the acquisition of Liberata Financial Services in 2008 and reflects our position as a leader in transforming our clients’ Life and Pensions operations. However, this deal is more than just Life and Pensions policy administration. Our expertise enables us to provide a virtual life office approach to Equitable Life, which is a true differentiator for HCL.
