The restriction to Quaker membership was an increasing constraint but the ties were substantially reduced by the Friends' Provident Institution Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo.

No capital was initially subscribed; "solvency was guaranteed by a bond entered into by several trustees" chiefly of noted Quaker families.

Funds were subsequently raised from 45 prominent Quakers and, with a board of 20 directors, Friends' Provident Insurance [FPI] was launched in 1832.

Agencies were gradually appointed, all through the offices of the Society of Friends and by 1862 there were 42 in England, one each in Wales and Scotland, and eight in Ireland.

By the 1890s this was regarded as serious impediment to growth The restriction on investment powers was resolved by the Friends' Provident Institution Act 1899 (62 & 63 Vict.

There was little scope to increase agents as these were tied to Quaker meetings and had been fully exploited; there were no branches except London.

Poor results in 1908 and 1909 led to a search for solutions and there were abortive negotiations for Royal Exchange Assurance to take over FPI in 1912.

In 1914, FPI agreed to accept non-Quakers for non-profit policies only but the major change came with the Friends' Provident Institution Act 1915 (5 & 6 Geo.

[1] A central part of Tapscott's strategy was to move FPI into general insurance but there were no powers to do so under the Friends' Provident Institution Act 1915.

[1] By the late 1920s, the growth in Century's business was requiring an equivalent increase in capital and this put a strain on the resources of the FPI life fund.

Century suffered fire losses in 1973and 1974 and recognised that in accident and marine it was hard to match the expense ratios of the larger companies.

The sale of Century was followed by Friends' Provident Life Office Act 1975 (c. xiv) to update the rules, ending the requirement that a majority of the directors had to be Quakers.

By 1981, a league table of British life offices listed Friends' Provident as fifteenth by assets.

[5] In 1992 it became a foundation partner in the Eureko Alliance in association with AVCB (The Netherlands), Topdanmark (Denmark) and Wasa (Sweden).

As part of this alliance, Friends Provident passed all of its then non UK subsidiaries (primarily in Australia, Canada and Ireland) into Eureko.

In July 2007, Friends announced an agreed "merger of equals" with insurer Resolution plc but this collapsed in November as a result of shareholder opposition.

This prompted a strategic review, including cost cutting and a proposed demerger of F & C. In January 2008 Friends received an informal £4.1 billion offer by JC Flowers,[12] later aborted.

In 2009 a newly formed Resolution Limited returned with a fresh approach and in August a bid of £1.86 billion was accepted.

[16] Friends Provident had large offices in a number of locations including Manchester, Clyst St. Mary in Exeter and Dorking, and was the second largest employer in Salisbury.