Gloucester based Ecclesiastical Insurance Group changes its name to Benefact Group

A hundred-year-old household name in insurance has decided to change both its name and brand identity.

Ecclesiastical Group, which has been in existence for more than 130 years, has changed its name to Benefact Group. Apparently this "marks an ambitious new chapter for the charitable owned Group and its family of specialist businesses."

Owned by a registered charity, Benefact Trust, Benefact Group gives all its available profits to good causes. The company says its name better reflects the Group’s diversity, breadth and purpose – it derives from Latin and means to do well by supporting a person or good cause (as opposed to Ecclesiastical which relates to the Christian Church or its clergy).

Originally created to protect parish churches from fire, the Group has grown to become an international family of three divisions: insurance, investments, and broker and advisory, with operations in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia. It includes more than 30 specialist financial businesses including Ecclesiastical Insurance, EdenTree Investment Management, SEIB, Lycetts and Lloyd & White brokers. All of the Group’s trading brands will continue to operate under their own names, but all be part of the Benefact Group.

Benefact Group is the fourth-largest corporate donor to charity in the UK and has ambitious plans to give £250million to good causes by 2025. All of the Group’s trading brands will operate to the same high ethical standards, united in a belief that better business can mean better lives, beyond business and out into our communities.

The Benefact Group, formerly named Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, has given over £100 million to good causes in recent years through various programmes such as the Movement for Good awards, which accepts charitable nominations from both its customers and the wider public. It also gives a proportion of its profits to its charitable owner, the Benefact Trust, who help transform lives and communities.

The Group’s giving supports a wide range of causes across different sectors including education and skills, rural, heritage, arts, faith, climate change, animal and wildlife charities.

Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive at Benefact Group, said: “Benefact Group, the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK, is a very different financial services group. We are owned by a charity which means all our available profits can be given to good causes. As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do. I’m very proud of our new name which reflects our unique purpose, the breadth of our offering and marks an ambitious new chapter for the Group and our family of specialist businesses.”