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Norwich Union, the UK’s largest insurer,and Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS), have signed a heads ofagreement for the distribution of a range of Norwich Union productsvia CIS’s 2,200 financial advisers.

The agreement will see Norwich Union providingfour products to complement CIS’s existing product range.These will be: a Personal pension, a Unit-linked bond andInheritance Tax Planning distributed via CIS’s salesforce,and a Guaranteed Acceptance Plan marketed direct to Co-operativeFinancial Services' (CFS) customers. The companies are workingtowards a main launch of the products in the first quarter of2006.

David Anderson, CFS chief executive, said:"Norwich Union is rightly regarded as a quality and leading productprovider, who combined with the strength of our existing productrange and salesforce channel, will help deliver a truly compellingproposition for our customers."

Gary Withers, Norwich Union Life chiefexecutive, said: "Norwich Union is proud to have been chosen by CISto provide a range of additional life products for CIS customers.CIS is a highly respected organisation and we are delighted to beworking with them as they develop and evolve their new strategy."

"In addition to this announcement we haverecently increased our share of Lifetime's wrap platform to 97% andincreased our equity in the Tenet Group to 21%. We have also agreedan all product multi-tie with Sesame, which builds on those alreadyannounced with Barclays, Bankhall and Millfield Alliance, togetherwith protection multi-ties with SimplyBiz and Direct Life &Pensions. These announcements clearly underline our strength indistribution for the new depolarised world."

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Press office contacts:
Norwich Union
James Evans 01904 452791 Out of hours 07800 699525

CIS
Russ Brady 0161 837 5672 Out of hours 07880 784442

Notes to editors

• Norwich Union is the UK's largest insurer. It is the UK'slargest provider of life, pensions and investment products andone of the leading Financial Adviser (FA) providers. IFAsprovide around 75% of the company's long-term savings businessin the UK. Norwich Union has strategic alliances with buildingsocieties and other leading UK brand names including TescoPersonal Finance and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
• Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) was formed to bringtogether The Co-operative Bank, smile (the Internet bank) andthe Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) under commonleadership. CIS has a large customer base of over 5 millioncustomers and is one of the UK's most successful insurers andlong-term savings providers. As part of CFS it enjoys adistinctive role within the UK financial services marketplacethrough its evolving service and distribution capabilities andits leadership position within the field of Corporate SocialResponsibility.