Barclays in Bancassurance Deal With Legal

The U.K.’s venerable Barclays Bank announced that it would enter into an alliance with life and pension insurer Legal & General to sell its products in Barclays branches.

Barclays will phase out its own pension and insurance plans beginning in April to concentrate on L&G’s portfolio of services. It hopes to double sales of long term savings, protection and investment products within four years.

The move is seen by financial analysts as another sign of the increasing popularity of the “bancassurance” model in the U.K., similar to those that exist in most Continental European countries.