Clive Cowdery

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Sir Clive Cowdery
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Bristol, England
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EducationClevedon Comprehensive School
OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from textBusinessman
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Known forFounder of Resolution, a global life insurance group
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Sir Clive Cowdery (born 26 May 1963)[1] is an English businessman and philanthropist who made a personal fortune in the insurance industry, founding two FTSE 100 insurers[2] and a third insurer which was sold to Nippon Life for $8.2bn in October 2025, which represented 77% of the outstanding shares not yet owned by Nippon Life, valuing the business at $10.6bn.[3] Cowdery has since donated large amounts to charity,[4] including the Resolution Foundation which he founded in 2005.[5]

Early life

Born of Anglo Danish parentage[6] in Bristol, England, in 1963, he is the second of five siblings.[7] He was educated at Clevedon Comprehensive School (now Clevedon Community School), and earned three O-levels and no A-levels.[7]

Career

Clive's career as a leading life insurance executive and entrepreneur has encompassed start-ups and large businesses across markets in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Asia.[8]

From 1998 to 2003, Cowdery was chairman and chief executive of General Electric Insurance Holdings, with operations in 12 countries in Europe.[9]

In 2003, Cowdery founded his first business under the Resolution brand, which invests in life insurance consolidation. Since then, Cowdery's Resolution companies have deployed over US$20 billion of equity in the acquisition, reinsurance, consolidation and management of life insurance companies. Together, these companies have served the needs of c.15 million policyholders while managing over US$375 billion of assets.[10]

His first Resolution vehicle consolidated four major UK closed life insurance companies from Royal Sun Alliance, Swiss Life, Britannic and Santander (Abbey National Life).[11] The FTSE100 insurer was sold to Pearl Group in 2008.[12]

His second Resolution vehicle merged FTSE 100 insurer Friends Provident with AXA's UK life business and other assets. The company was sold to Aviva in 2015 for £5.2 billion.[13]

These two completed projects made significant total returns for shareholders.[14][15][16]

In 2018, Cowdery founded Resolution Life, a global life insurance group with the specialist model focusing on the acquisition and management of life insurance companies and portfolios of existing life insurance policies.[8] Prior to the sale to Nippon Life, Resolution Life, managed c.$90 billion of assets with portfolios and reinsurance treaties across the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the United Kingdom and Asia.[17]

In Australasia, Resolution Life created a specialist life insurance business focussed specifically on the needs of existing customers rather than the promotion of new policies through the acquisition and integration of a number of businesses.[18] These included the US$2.1 billion acquisition of AMP Limited's life insurance business, AMP Life;[19] AIA Australia's superannuation and investment life insurance business in July 2023;[20] and the NZ$410 million acquisition of Asteron Life New Zealand from Suncorp Group Limited in February 2025.[21]

In addition, Resolution Life operates a global reinsurance business in Bermuda.[22]

In October 2025, Resolution Life was acquired by Nippon Life. Cowdery remains its executive chairman.[23]

As part of the transaction, Resolution Life Australasia and Nippon Life's Australian company, MLC, merged to form Acenda Group, a new entity in the Asia-Pacific insurance market.[24]

According to a Bloomberg article in 2025 his net worth was estimated at £200 million.[2]

Charitable works

Since formation of his Resolution vehicles Cowdery has devoted half of all proceeds to charity.[25] The Resolution Foundation, an independent social and economic research organisation set up by Cowdery in 2005, is considered to be one of Britain's leading authorities on low earners[2] and the policy responses required to lift their living standards.[6]

Other professional interests

Cowdery is the owner of Resolution Media which invests in media assets and is Publisher of the magazine Prospect, a current affairs magazine.[26] Along with George Soros, he was an early funder and served as a member of the governing council of The Institute for New Economic Thinking[27] and, until February 2021, he was also a founder and director of Best for Britain, a group campaigning to stop Brexit.[28][29]

In April 2025, Cowdery acquired an equity stake in The Observer and joined the media outlet's board.[30]

Personal life

Cowdery lives in London and has six children.[7]

Cowdery was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to children and social mobility.[31][32]

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cave, Andrew (15 November 2008). "Clive Cowdery's Resolution rises again". The Daily Telegraph.
  2. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Aldrick, Philip (14 December 2025). "The Rags-to-Riches Capitalist Behind Britain's Most Influential Think Tank". Bloomberg.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ralph, Alex (11 December 2024). "Nippon Life buys Clive Cowdery's Resolution Life in $10.6bn deal". The Times.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cooney, Rebecca. "Wealthiest people gave £3.2bn to charity in the past year". www.thirdsector.co.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sellgren, Katharine (30 December 2015). "Knighthood for philanthropist Jack Petchey". BBC News.
  6. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ramesh, Randeep (28 February 2011). "Insurance tycoon Clive Cowdery goes on a mission to help the working poor". The Guardian.
  7. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Profile: Clive Cowdery: Class act who worked his way to top". The Scotsman. 14 August 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  8. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Resolution's Cowdery has $2 bln life insurance deal in sight". Reuters. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Interview: The insurance entrepreneur soon to be knocking at the FTSE 100's door". The Independent. 10 June 2005. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."About Us | Resolution Life". www.resolutionlife.com. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The rise of Resolution". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Costello, Miles. "Upstart Cowdery shows how it's done". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Costello, Miles. "Friends Life agrees £5bn takeover by Aviva". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gray, Alistair; Oakley, David; Massoudi, Arash (2 December 2014). "Aviva agrees £5bn takeover of Friends Life". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Guthrie, Jonathan (2 December 2014). "Work to do before Aviva investors welcome Friends". Financial Times. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Interview | Clive Cowdery". the Guardian. 13 August 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New deal unlocks $4.1bn value for Allianz and scale for Resolution Life in 'undervalued' business". Intelligent Insurer. 3 December 2021.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Resolution Life Australasia to acquire AIA Australia's Superannuation & Investments business". Resolution Life. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Taylor, Mike (1 July 2020). "AMP Life sale finally completes for $3b". Money Management.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Baigorri, Manuel (23 February 2022). "AIA Group to Sell Some Australian Assets to Resolution Life". Bloomberg.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wood, Daniel (3 February 2025). "Suncorp completes life insurance sale". Insurance Business Magazine.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Resolution Life empowers life insurers to focus on growth and resilience". InsuranceERM. 11 November 2025.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jain, Saumya (9 January 2026). "Resolution Life names Moses Ojeisekhoba as new CEO". Reinsurance News.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Libatique, Roxanne (4 November 2025). "Resolution Life Australasia and Nippon Life's Australian company, MLC, will be merged to form Acenda". Insurance Business Asia.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Neville, Sarah (30 April 2015). "Clive Cowdery donates £50m to research living standards". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Alan Rusbridger to be next editor of Prospect magazine". www.inpublishing.co.uk. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."INET Welcomes Clive Cowdery to Its Governing Board". Institute for New Economic Thinking. 7 December 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."About Us". bestforbritain.org. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."UK-EU OPEN POLICY LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cahill, Helen (25 April 2025). "Insurance tycoon Clive Cowdery takes stake in The Observer". The Times.
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.[Script error: No such module "London Gazette util". "No. 61450"]. The London Gazette (Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".). 30 December 2015. p. Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".. {{cite magazine}}: Check |url= value (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New Year's Honours 2016 list" (PDF). Government of the United Kingdom. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
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