The Royal Liver Group has introduced a new life business in the Irish market operating through independent life assurance brokers. The company, which will trade as Caledonian Life, aims to win 5 per cent of the broker market over the next three years.

Caledonian Life is being created from the former Guardian Life Ireland, which Royal Liver purchased for £105 million (€133.3 million) last year.

Royal Liver is a mutual friendly society and has operated in Ireland for 150 years.

It currently employs around 700 in the Republic and expects this to increase to 800 by year end, according to chief executive Mr Brian McCaul.

Royal Liver and Caledonian Life will operate separately in the Irish market focusing on different sectors. Caledonian Life will be run and managed from Dublin and initially will offer life assurance products.

Mr McCaul said it would await the contents of the forthcoming Pension Bill before developing any pension products for the Irish market.

Mr McCaul stressed the company would remain a mutually owned organisation.

It is unusual in transferring policyholders from the publicly quoted Guardian group to Royal Liver.

"There is no doubt that they stand to benefit from that mutual status and it is a pleasing reversal of the recent trend whereby mutuals were converting to public companies," he said yesterday.

Caledonian has developed an Internet-based system for the immediate completion and acceptance of life assurance proposal forms.