Scottish Amicable to build dedicated IT site

Scottish Amicable is to rehouse part of its IT department at a purpose-built site near to the Stirling headquarters. The move is to make way for an extra five hundred staff, to be hired over the next two years under an overall £15m investment programme.

The site will create a dedicated IT support and servicing area for all its policy agreements with Independent Financial Advisors (IFA), and is planned to meet what it claims will be extensive business growth.

However, the technology itself will not be upgraded. A spokesman said this is because, "the existing systems are capable of handling the planned expansion. We already have advanced scanning and imaging capabilities, so that all the necessary divisions can access the applicants details on screen."

Scottish Amicable, which sells most of its business through IFAs, will process and provide back-up for all the applications in the new site at Craigforth, Stirling.

The recently-acquired arm of Prudential currently employs 1,800 staff which will increase to 2,300 by the end of the century.