3rd Qtr New Business Figures

CGNU PLC
18 October 2000





Worldwide long-term savings new business first nine months of 2000


-    Worldwide new business sales up by 14% to £9.0 billion
-    Total UK new business sales up by 22% to £5.5 billion
-    Strong growth achieved in major Continental European businesses
-    Continued development of distribution channels in UK, Italy and Spain


Bob Scott, Group Chief Executive, commented:

'Strong new business sales of £9.0 billion worldwide were achieved in the
first nine months of the year. Excellent growth of 22% was delivered by our UK
business, which has recently launched under the new Norwich Union brand and
now provides one of the most comprehensive product ranges in the market.

'Our Continental European businesses are capitalising on growth in unit-linked
sales, with particular success in France.  The sales  reflect both organic
growth and acquisitions, with a 27% improvement after removing the benefit in
1999 from the one-off Poland pensions opportunity and the ending of the
Credito Italiano bancassurance agreement.

'The growth achieved during a period of merger integration demonstrates the
strength of our products and quality of our people.  This places our
businesses around the world in a strong position for continued future growth.'


Enquiries:
Analysts/Investors:
Philip Scott, Group Executive Director UK Life          [phone]
Steve Riley, Investor Relations Director                [phone]

Media:
Hayley Stimpson, Director of External Affairs           [phone]
Alex Child-Villiers, Financial Dynamics                 [phone]


                           Single             Regular          Total

                           9                   9
                      months     Local    months      Local      Local
                       to 30  currency     to 30   currency   currency
                        Sept    growth      Sept     growth     growth
                        2000                2000

                          £m                  £m

Life and pensions
United Kingdom         4,557       24%       270        16%        24%
France                 1,380       39%        30         3%        38%
Netherlands              313       39%        46      (13%)        29%
Ireland                  299       36%        34       145%        42%
Poland                     8     (11%)       156      (34%)      (33%)
Spain                     71      264%        10        20%       191%
Other Europe             283     (61%)        61      (21%)      (57%)
International            354        3%        37       (6%)         2%
                      ------    ------    ------     ------     ------

Total life and
  pensions             7,265       17%       644       (6%)        15%
                      ======    ======    ======     ======     ======
Investment sales
United Kingdom           692       11%        17        70%        12%
Other Europe             157       82%         -          -        82%
International            242     (13%)         -          -      (13%)
                      ------    ------    ------     ------     ------
Total investment
  sales                1,091       10%        17        70%        11%
                      ======    ======    ======     ======     ======

Total long-term
  savings              8,356       16%       661       (5%)        14%
                      ======    ======    ======     ======     ======


United Kingdom:

The UK life business was launched under the new Norwich Union brand on 2
October 2000. With a 10% market share it is the leading UK life insurer and
IFA provider. IFAs provide more than 75% of our UK life and pensions business
with an increase of 27% in new business through the IFA channel for the first
nine months of 2000.  Despite the merger integration activity, service has
been maintained at a high level.

Total UK new business sales increased by 22% to £5.5 billion during the
first nine months of 2000 and in Annual Premium Equivalent terms were 21%
higher at £812 million.

Single premium life and pension sales increased by 24% to £4.6 billion. Single
premium Bonds and Savings sales continue to perform strongly with an increase
of 27% in new business to £2.6 billion.

New regular premiums increased by 16% to £270 million, including an increase
in term assurance sales of 144%, where the combined company is the market
leader. Mortgage business sales at £30 million are down 29% on 1999 reflecting
the decline in mortgage endowment business.  It is our intention to continue
to be a high volume player in this market, delivering first class value to
customers and focusing on mortgage protection business.

Total individual pension sales at £886 million increased by 37% over 1999,
while total group pension sales at £460 million were up 35% over the same
period reflecting the success of our pre-stakeholder products. Pooled
managed pension fund business continues to account for a high proportion of
this increase.

Annuity single premium sales at £612 million were down 10% on 1999, reflecting
a continued policy of pricing annuities for profit as well as volume.  Sales
of with-profit annuities continued to grow significantly at £98 million (1999:
£33 million).

Single premium investment sales are up 11% to £692 million while regular
premiums are up 70% to £17 million reflecting strong growth in ISA sales.

The launch of the new Norwich Union brand was accompanied by the unveiling of
over 50 life, pension, investment and healthcare products positioning Norwich
Union as a leading UK player.  This is the largest product range of any life
insurer, the best of breed from the merged CGU and Norwich Union businesses
and represents excellent value for money. Attractive launch terms and
enhancements have been incorporated across the range of products, backed by
a strong advertising campaign designed to rapidly consolidate the brand.

Stakeholder pensions remain a top priority, and having stated the intention to
be the leading stakeholder provider, Norwich Union became the first pension
provider to apply for stakeholder registration on 1 October. This represents
the first step in enabling employers to designate our stakeholder pension as
the scheme for their workforce.

Norwich Union continues to invest in technology to improve operational
efficiency. Our aim is to be in a position to process as much as 50% of our
new business electronically, through 'no touch' administration, by the end of
next year.

While emphasising and growing our commitment to the IFA channel, Norwich Union
will operate on a multi-distribution basis.  This includes a wide network of
partnership arrangements, including an alliance with The Royal Bank of
Scotland which is due for completion in quarter four of this year, a salaried
direct salesforce and a telesales operation.

France:
The French business continued to produce excellent figures with total new
premiums increasing by 38% to £1.4 billion compared with the first nine months
of 1999.

New single premiums, which dominate the market, increased by 39% to £1,380
million, ahead of overall market growth.

Sales through AFER, the largest savings organisation in France, increased by
35% over the first nine months of 1999.  The unit-linked element of the AFER
contract, principally SFER, increased sales by 206% to £256 million.  This
continues the trend established in the first half of this year, providing 33%
of total AFER sales and reflects the move towards unit-linked products
following strong equity performance in 1999.

Abeille vie business also performed strongly over the first nine months of
1999 increasing sales by 41% to £636 million, boosted by unit-linked products.

Netherlands:
Delta Lloyd Nuts Ohra is a leading life and pensions insurer in the
Netherlands. Single premiums sales were up 39% at £313 million, including £64
million from Nuts Ohra, following strong individual pensions sales.

Regular premium sales were slower reflecting a reduction in annual premium
market volumes ahead of tax reforms.

Ireland:
Hibernian Life & Pensions was launched in Ireland in October 2000 combining
the businesses of Norwich Union Life, Hibernian Life and CGU Life. The merger
has created a top five provider of new life and pensions business under the
strong and established Hibernian brand, with a current market share of 13%.

Total new single premium sales at £299 million were 36% higher than the first
nine months of 1999 and include a contribution of £69 million from Hibernian,
acquired in January 2000.  The increase in new annual premiums to £34 million
(1999: £15 million) principally reflects the impact of Hibernian.

Poland:
Following the privatisation of the pensions market, CU Polska became the
leading private pensions provider and by the end of 1999 had captured 30% of
this market measured by assets under management.  Over 70% of the total
pension sales since launch in April 1999, including sales from the Norwich
Union business, were achieved in the third and fourth quarters of 1999 and
this concentration should be factored into any period to period comparison.

On 20 September 2000 we announced the sale of the Norwich Union life and
pensions businesses in Poland to Sampo Insurance Company plc for £143 million,
the merger of CGU plc and Norwich Union plc having led the Polish regulator to
require CGNU to sell one of the two existing pension businesses. The Polish
new business figures include the Norwich Union life and pensions businesses,
which contributed £14 million (1999: £22 million) in regular premium pension
sales and £3 million (1999: £nil) in regular premium life sales.

Building on our success in 1999, CU Polska maintained its leading market share
attracting over 77,000 new pension customers during the first nine months of
2000.

Following the intense activity last year when we grew our life business
alongside pension sales, CU Polska has maintained its share of the life market
at around 20%. Long-term growth prospects remain very good with less than 20%
of employed people having an individual life policy.

Spain:
Our Spanish business is a top 10 life and pensions provider following
completion of our new bancassurance partnership with Bancaja, Spain's fourth
largest savings bank.  The first two months of the partnership produced
encouraging single premium sales of £22 million and annual premium sales of £3
million.  Our other operations in Spain produced single premium sales of £49
million, 153% higher than 1999, reflecting the success of unit-linked savings
products, while annual premium sales at £7 million reflected lower pension
sales.

Other Europe:
Italy:  The relative decline in new business from 1999 from our Other European
businesses principally reflects the cessation of our bancassurance agreement
with Credito Italiano last year. Our distribution agreement with Banca
Popolare di Lodi was extended in July and will progressively allow exclusive
access to a total network of over 1,200 branches.  Sales from the existing
agreement covering 250 branches have continued to focus on regular premium
sales, up over 150% on the same period last year. Our partnership with Banca
delle Marche launched in September 1999 has also seen strong single premium
sales growth to £52 million following the successful promotion of unit-linked
products.

Other businesses: Norwich Union International, our Dublin-based offshore life
and investment business, contributed £68 million to single premium sales. In
Luxembourg sales of UCITS (collective investment schemes) advanced 82%.  Our
German business continued to produce good growth in annual premiums, up 17% to
£26 million; single premiums were £33 million. In Turkey annual premium sales
at £17 million doubled over 1999, reflecting the continuing development of our
direct sales force and the attractive product range. We are optimistic about
the new opportunities presented by private pensions and will be applying for a
licence as soon as the pensions legislation is finalised.

Encouraging progress has also been made in Belgium, Czech Republic and
Portugal. On 11 October 2000, our Romanian operation commenced trading
offering a new life and savings opportunity, initially via a direct sales
force and will market a range of innovative and flexible unit-linked life
products.

International:
Sales from our Australian life and pensions business grew by 4% over the first
nine months of 1999 to £202 million.  Our life business in the United States
saw single premium sales of £139 million up 4% over the same period of 1999.
On 14 June 2000 we announced our intention to sell our Canadian life
businesses which have contributed £11 million of regular and £25 million of
single premium sales in 2000.

Navigator:
Continuing the trend established in prior periods, sales of our Navigator
product rose by 32% to £606 million giving total funds under administration
of £2.2 billion.


Notes to Editors
1.    CGU and Norwich Union merged on 30 May 2000 to create CGNU plc the UK's
      largest insurance group and one of the top-five life insurers in Europe
      with substantial positions in other markets around the world making it
      the world's sixth largest insurer based on gross worldwide premiums.

      CGNU's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund
      management and general insurance with worldwide premium income and
      retail investment sales of £26 billion and assets under management of
      more than £200 billion.

      From 2 October 2000, the combined life and pensions, retail fund and
      general insurance businesses in the UK operate under the Norwich Union
      brand, and the institutional investment business operates under the
      Morley Fund Management brand.

2.    The worldwide new business figures presented are combined CGU and
      Norwich Union.

3.    New business figures have been translated at average exchange rates
      applying for the period.


                                             9 months to       9 months to
                                            30 September      30 September
                                                    2000              1999

France         - francs                    £1  =   10.73     £1  =    9.87
Netherlands    - guilders                  £1  =    3.60     £1  =    3.31
Ireland        - punts                     £1  =    1.29     £1  =    1.18
Poland         - zloty                     £1  =    6.60     £1  =    6.32
Spain          - pesetas                   £1  =  272.12     £1  =  249.89


4.    All growth rates are quoted in local currency.

5.    Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) is a UK industry standard for
      calculating life, pensions and investments new business levels. It is
      the total of new regular premiums plus 10% of single premiums.


Annual premium equivalent                   9 months to                 Local
                                           30 September              currency
                                                   2000                growth
                                                     £m

United Kingdom
IFA                                                 643                   26%
Partnerships/Direct                                 169                    4%
                                                 ------                ------
                                                    812                   21%

France                                              168                   31%
Netherlands                                          77                    2%
Ireland                                              64                   78%
Poland                                              157                 (34%)
Spain                                                17                   65%
Other Europe                                        105                 (34%)
International                                        97                  (4%)
                                                 ------                ------

Total long-term savings                           1,497                    6%
                                                 ======                ======


CGNU plc is a company registered in England No. 2468686.
Registered office St Helen's 1 Undershaft London EC3P 3DQ


Worldwide long-term savings new business

                                    Single                       Regular

                                9       9                 9       9
                           months  months     Local  months  months     Local
                            to 30   to 30  currency   to 30   to 30  currency
                             Sept    Sept    growth    Sept    Sept    growth
                             2000    1999              2000    1999
                               £m      £m                £m      £m


United Kingdom
Individual pensions           764     551       39%     122      98       24%
Group pensions                403     291       38%      57      51       12%
Mortgage                        -       -         -      30      42     (29%)
Annuities                     612     680     (10%)       -       -         -
Bonds and savings           2,639   2,074       27%       4       5     (20%)
Other life                    139      71       96%      57      36       58%
PEPs/ISAs/unit                692     624       11%      17      10       70%
trusts/OEICS
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                            5,249   4,291       22%     287     242       19%
France
AFER (excluding unit-         518     531        6%       -       -         -
linked)
Unit-linked & other           721     436       79%      10      14     (24%)
savings
Protection business           141     112       36%      20      17       26%
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                            1,380   1,079       39%      30      31        3%
Netherlands
Individual pensions           167      67      172%       -       -         -
Group pensions                 90     118     (18%)      13      13        5%
Life                           56      59        3%      33      44     (19%)
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                              313     244       39%      46      57     (13%)

Ireland
Life                          250     220       24%      10       6       94%
Pensions & annuities           49      21      153%      24       9      176%
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                              299     241       36%      34      15      145%
Poland
Life & savings                  8       9     (11%)      31      44     (26%)
Pensions                        -       -         -     125     203     (36%)
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                                8       9     (11%)     156     247     (34%)
Spain
Life & savings                 51      16      242%       8       5       65%
Pensions                       20       5      332%       2       4     (37%)
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                               71      21      264%      10       9       20%
Other Europe
Life & pensions               283     781     (61%)      61      84     (21%)
UCITS and other               157      86       82%       -       -         -
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                              440     867     (45%)      61      84     (21%)
International
Life & pensions               354     343        3%      37      37      (6%)
Unit trusts                   242     287     (13%)       -       -         -
                           ------  ------    ------  ------  ------    ------
                              596     630      (4%)      37      37      (6%)

Total long-term savings     8,356   7,382       16%     661     722      (5%)
                           ======  ======    ======  ======  ======    ======

Including investment
 sales of                   1,091     997       10%      17      10       70%

Analysis of UK long-term savings sales by distribution channel

IFA
 - life and pensions products  3,686   2,904     27%     214     173     24%
 - investment products           503     412     22%      10       4    150%
Partnerships/Direct
 - life and pensions products    871     763     14%      56      59    (5%)
 - investment products           189     212   (11%)       7       6     17%
                              ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------

Total UK long-term savings     5,249   4,291     22%     287     242     19%

                              ======  ======  ======  ======  ======  ======