1999 Worldwide Life & Savings New Business

CGU PLC
26 January 2000


                 1999 WORLDWIDE LIFE & SAVINGS NEW BUSINESS


    *   Worldwide new business increased by 33% to £7,094m.
 
    *   New annual premiums up 76% to £744m, including £282m from
        Polish pensions.
 
    *   Single premium sales 29% higher at £5,580m.
 
    *   ISA, PEP, unit trust and UCITS sales up 29% to £770m.


Bob Scott, Group Chief Executive, commented:

'Our  life and savings businesses produced an excellent performance in 1999
with new business sales up 33% to a record £7.1 billion.  There was strong
life and pensions growth in the UK, good performances in France and the
Netherlands, and our Polish business captured a large share of the new
pensions market, with new  annual premiums totalling £282m in 1999.

We  continue to build on the Group's strong position in the UK and
Continental European life and savings markets and broaden our
multi-distribution capability.'

Enquiries:

Media:
Robbie Graham, Director of Life Development  [phone]

Analysts/Investors:
Steve Riley, Head of Investor Relations      [phone]

UK Trade Press:
Fran Elliott, Public Relations Manager       01904 452 172
                                             07968 934035 (mobile)


                   New single       New annual        Investment
                    premiums         premiums          sales (ii)      TOTAL

                          Local            Local            Local      Local
                       currency         currency         currency   currency
                  1999   growth    1999   growth    1999   growth     growth
                    £m        %      £m        %      £m        %          %

United Kingdom   2,655       34     171        1     641       36         33
France           1,328       20      13       12                          20
Netherlands (iv)   340       16      84        9                          15
Italy              768       21      42      (14)                         19
Poland - life       13      163      57       12                          25
Poland - pensions  n/a      n/a     282      n/a                         n/a
Germany             90      n/a      39      n/a                         n/a
Other Europe       185      140      12       21     129        5         55
Rest of World      201      (5)      44       16                          (1)
                 -----    ----      ---      ---     ---      ---        ---
TOTAL            5,580      29      744       76     770       29         33
                 -----    ----      ---      ---     ---      ---        ---

Notes:
(i)   Average exchange rates used and premiums  are gross of reassurance.
(ii)  Includes ISAs, PEPs, unit trusts and UCITS (collective investments
      sold throughout Europe and Asia).
(iii) Growth excludes sales from businesses disposed of.
(iv)  Figures include £3m in single premiums and £0.5m in annual premiums
      from Nuts Ohra.  Excluding Nuts Ohra, single and annual premiums were
      15% and 8% higher respectively.

UK :  We were pleased to announce in November 1999 the agreement to acquire a
50%  shareholding in the Royal Bank of Scotland's life assurance  subsidiary,
Royal  Scottish  Assurance.  CGU will also provide administration  and  asset
management  services and the joint venture is due to commence  in  the  first
half of 2000.

CGU Life's total sales of new life, pensions and investment business rose by
33% to  £3.5bn, benefiting from strong sales in the fourth quarter of 1999.
There  was  good  growth  through IFAs and buoyant sales  through  our other
channels (building society partners, estate agents and direct business), with
NAPI sales up 14% and 36% respectively (NAPI is new annual premiums  plus  a
tenth of new single premiums and investment products).

New  single  premiums increased by 34% to £2,655m, mainly  reflecting  a 52%
increase  to  £1,852m  in  sales  of  our flagship  investment  product, the
Portfolio Bond.  Our focus on pensions business has increased single premium
pensions sales by 14% to £740m.  This included an 18% increase to £400m in
individual pension sales and new group pensions sales were up 9% to £340m.

New annual  premiums  were up strongly in the discrete  fourth quarter and
totalled  £171m for the year (1998 £170m).   Our  clear  pensions  stance,
allowing all customers who have bought annual premium personal pensions
since CGU  Life was launched to enjoy penalty free transfers into a new
Stakeholder pension  when it is introduced, has enabled us to significantly
outperform a declining  pensions market, with annual premium pensions up 10%
at £110m.  This  included a 16% increase to £66m in individual pension sales
and group sales of £44m were 2% higher.  Mortgage protection sales were
higher in 1999, offset by lower mortgage endowment sales of £33m (1998 £45m).

New investments into ISAs, unit trusts and PEPs were 36% higher at £641m.
In 1999, strong PEP sales were maintained and we made a smooth transition
to ISAs.  The CGU ISA had a successful launch in April with sales of £212m
achieved in 1999, and we rank second in the corporate bond ISA market.

France :  Strong growth continued into the fourth quarter producing a good
increase for the year. In a market dominated by single premium sales, new
single premium business at CGU France was up 20% to £1,328m, against market
growth of some 13%. AFER's excellent return record helped boost bond sales
by 45% to £712m, and the recently announced investment yield of 6.23% for
1999 will ensure a competitive position in 2000. AFER is the largest savings
organisation in France, with over 500,000 members, and over £14bn of funds
under management. SFER, the unit-linked product of AFER, continued to grow,
representing 16% of AFER's total new business and 7% (1998 c.2%) of AFER's
total funds.

Unit-linked sales (including £135m in unit-linked  AFER  sales) and other
savings products were up 2% at £482m and group protection sales were £134m
(1998 £144m).

Netherlands  :  Delta Lloyd Nuts Ohra produced a good performance in  1999,
boosted by good sales in the fourth quarter.  New annual premiums  increased
by 9% to  £84m,  reflecting  strong sales of Delta  Life,  our  unit-linked
universal  life  product,  which were up 37%  to  £18m.  Increased  pensions
business,including the acquisition of a new group pension scheme during the
year, boosted single premiums by 16% to £340m.

The acquisition of Nuts Ohra was completed in the fourth quarter of 1999 and
it contributed £0.5m and £3m in annual and single premium sales respectively.
The combined  company, Delta Lloyd Nuts Ohra, is a major life and  pensions
player, ranking third in this important market.

Italy  :  Total  new  business sales were higher than in 1998, with single
premium sales increasing to £768m and annual premiums of £42m.

Strong growth in sales of our unit-linked savings products continued through
our newest bancassurance  arrangements.  Banca delle  Marche,  which sells
through 250  branches based in the centre of Italy, has  generated  £55m in
single premiums since its launch in September 1999.  Banca Popolare di Lodi,
where we  sell through 250 branches, mainly in the north and  south  of the
country,  achieved £5m (1998 £2m) in annual premiums and £34m (1998 £3m) in
single premium sales.

Poland : In Poland, we have achieved exceptional success in capitalising  on
the major opportunity provided by the privatisation of pensions provision.
We are the leading pensions business, capturing a market share of over 20% 
by number of customers and 30% by funds under management.  New annual pension
premiums of £282m were received in 1999, representing the processing of 1.6m
pensions cases,  with a further 0.5m applications in the pipeline  to  be
processed during 2000.

The pensions growth has built on the success of our existing life operations
and created a major business in Poland, with a customer base of over 3
million and the potential to cross sell our products.

In  a  year where our sales team focused on the pensions opportunity,  a 12%
increase in annual premium life sales to £57m and a 163% increase to £13m in
single  premiums,  represents a good performance.  Including  both  life and
pensions sales, new annual premiums were £339m for the year.

Germany  :  Berlinische Leben produced strong annual premium sales of £39m,
with  £15m in the  discrete fourth quarter (Q4 1998  £9m),  reflecting new
product launches and increased marketing activity. Single premium sales of
£90m were achieved reflecting good sales of pension and  annuity  business.
During 2000 we will continue to refocus the business to sell higher margin
equity-linked and group pensions products.

In  Ireland,  excellent single premium investment bond sales of £145m were
achieved  in 1999  and the acquisition of The Hibernian Group provides new
customers and additional distribution power to market with-profits policies.
We have been successfully developing our Turkish business in recent years
and now rank fourth in the market for new business, with annual  premium
sales 130%  higher at £16m in 1999.  Our cross-border business in Luxembourg
added £129m in UCITS sales following good fourth quarter sales.

In the United States, single premium sales were 6% lower at £172m,
reflecting good  sales of a new deferred annuity product being offset by
reduced  demand for immediate annuities. Following our withdrawal from the
unprofitable group health market, annual premiums were 19% lower at £20m.
In Canada, new annual premiums were 28% higher at £7m reflecting increased
sales of protection  and annuity products and single premiums were 7%
higher at £28m.


ASSET MANAGEMENT

CGU is one of the top 20 fund managers in Europe, managing worldwide assets
of over £125bn.

In 1999 we attracted over £8bn in new funds worldwide, including £7.1bn in
new life and savings business and over £1bn in third party mandate
investments.  Strong long term investment performance helped to attract
these funds, with our UK third party pension fund ranking in the top
quartile over the last 5 years.

Two of our main investment businesses won awards during 1999. The Financial
Times named our UK business, Morley Fund Management, as the third best
performer of all institutional fund managers of third party pension funds,
and in France, Victoire Asset Management was nominated by the influential
Mieux Vivre magazine as the country's best insurance asset manager.


NOTES TO EDITORS

*  CGU  is Europe's 5th largest insurance group and the largest in the  UK
   (based on worldwide sales of some £18bn per annum).

*  Life and savings represents just over half of CGU's total business.

*  The  geographical  split of total life, pensions and retail  investment
   sales for 1999 was:
   
                           %
      United Kingdom      49
      France              19
      Netherlands          6
      Italy               11
      Poland               5
      Germany              2
      Other Europe         5
      Rest of World        3
                         ---
                         100
                         ---

*  Distribution  of  UK life and savings products using NAPI  (new  annual
   premiums plus a tenth of new single premiums and investment products)
   for 1999 was:
   
                           %
   IFAs                   66
   Partnership/Direct     34
                         ---
                         100
                         ---

*    All growth rates are quoted in local currency.

*    CGU's 1999 results will be reported on 23 February 2000.

*    Results and corporate news releases are available on the Internet:
     www.cgugroup.com/group


                Worldwide life & savings new business - 1999

                                                             Investment 
             New single premiums   New annual premiums        sales (ii)
                           Local                 Local                 Local
              12 months currency   12 months  currency    12 months currency
             1999  1998   growth   1999  1998   growth   1999  1998   growth
               £m    £m        %     £m    £m        %     £m    £m        %
United Kingdom
Individual
 pensions     400   340       18     66    57       16 
Group
 pensions     340   311        9     44    43        2
Mortgage        -     -        -     40    49      (18)
Other life  1,915 1,323       45     21    21        -
PEPs/ISAs
/unit trusts    -     -        -      -     -        -    641   473       36
            ----- -----      ---    ---   ---      ---
            2,655 1,974       34    171   170        1

France
AFER
 (excl.unit
 -linked)     712   501       45      -     -        -
Unit-linked &
 other
 savings      482   483        2     12    11       16
Group 
 protection
 business     134   144       (5)     1     1      (27)
            ----- -----      ---    ---   ---      ---
            1,328 1,128       20     13    12       12

Netherlands (iv)
Individual
 pensions      89    84        7      -     -        -
Group 
 pensions     174   114       56     23    23        -
Universal
  life         18    16       13     18    13       37
Other
 individual
 life          48    66      (26)    34    35        1
Group life     11    17      (35)     9     8       22
              ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
              340   297       16     84    79        9

Italy
Unit-linked   640   588       11     15    11       39
Savings, 
 protection
 & other      128    60      119     27    39      (29)
              ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
              768   648       21     42    50      (14)

Poland
Life 
 & savings     13     5      163     57    57       12
Pensions        -     -        -    282     -      n/a
              ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
               13     5      163    339    57      560

Germany
Life 
 & savings     30    14      n/a     18     9      n/a
Pensions
 & annuities   60    24      n/a     21     7      n/a
              ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
               90    38      n/a     39    16      n/a

Other Europe
Life 
 & pensions   185    79      140     12    10       21
UCITS           -     -        -      -     -        -    129   129        5
              ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
              185    79      140     12    10       21

United States
Life
 assurance      6     9      (32)     9    14      (41)
Pensions
 & annuities  166   170       (5)    11    10       14
              ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
              172   179       (6)    20    24      (19)
Other          29    27        7     24    13       84
            ----- -----      ---    ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---
TOTAL       5,580 4,375       29    744   431       76    770   602       29
            ----- -----      ---    ---   ---      ---    ---   ---      ---

Notes:
(i)   Average exchange rates used and premiums  are gross of reassurance.

(ii)  Includes ISAs, PEPs, unit trusts and UCITS (collective investments sold
      throughout Europe and Asia).

(iii) 1998 figures exclude sales from businesses disposed of.

(iv)  1999 figures include £3m in single premiums and £0.5m in annual
      premiums from Nuts Ohra.  Excluding Nuts Ohra, single and annual
      premiums were 15% and 8% higher respectively.