Asda shelves Scottish Widows to shop around

ASDA was today looking for a new life insurance partner after ending a three-year deal with Edinburgh provider Scottish Widows.

The supermarket parted company with the insurance firm after both sides agreed that Asda "could probably better develop its life insurance offer with a new partner".

But Scottish Widows suggested it was unhappy about the growth of its business with the supermarket, pointing to Asda's lack of promotion of the product.

Nick Kirwan, protection market director at the company, said: "You do need to make sure that the information is very prominent and you need to do more than just putting out a leaflet."

Mr Kirwan added that the low-profile advertising used by supermarkets to sell financial services was not well suited to the complexities of life insurance and the fact that, unlike car insurance, it is not a necessary product for customers to buy.

A spokeswoman for Asda said: "We have been happy with where we got to with Scottish Widows, but three years down the line we have got a lot of experience and we want to take that and sharpen our offer and move it on."