Our history

At Aviva, we have a long and illustrious history. We've been innovating in the field of insurance for over 300 years.

It all began right here in the UK in 1696, when the Hand-in-Hand was formed at Tom's Coffee House, in London. It's the oldest of the many hundreds of organisations and companies that have since been absorbed into Aviva.

It was on Christmas day 1797 that Norwich Union issued its first policy to Seth Wallace - insuring his house and shop against fire. (In fact, when the company was first formed, they insured only against fire damage.)

Innovations followed thick and fast. The Aviva Group includes the oldest mutual life insurer, the first ever company to issue a burglary policy and the only insurance firm ever to hold a Royal Warrant.

In more recent times (February 2000 to be precise) Norwich Union plc. the holding company merged with CGU plc to form CGNU plc, which rebranded in 2002 as Aviva.