Moss defends Aviva’s year

Aviva boss Andrew Moss says spending as much a s £20m advertising the change of name fro Norwich Union was money well spent, he tell the Telegraph n a lengthy interview.

"We announced we were going to rebrand Norwich Union to Aviva last year and it was a huge project," he said.

"The reason we did it was because we are known as Aviva across the world and wanted to fall under one brand. The advertising campaign cost us between £10m and £20m pounds – but it was worth every penny."

Share price wobbles

Moss says concerns over the company's level of capital mid-year were a "huge overreaction".

"The 2008 full-year reporting season was always going to be tricky for insurers, because we'd just seen the biggest fall in financial markets any of us can remember. We reported first and the whole sector moved downwards as a result.

“There was some concern at the time that capital would need to be raised but we were convinced that was not the case and the capital position of the group has steadily improved since."

Wide-ranging interview

• In the interview he talks about:
• Using market consistent embedded value (MCEV) reporting
• Finance director Philip Scott’s departure
• Getting through the financial crisis
• NY stock exchange listing
• Future growth
• Solvency II and UK regulation

Moss says staff at Aviva can all "look in the mirror and be proud".

"We're two years into a five-year programme. It's great to see the results coming through, but there is still a lot of work to do. For me that's the time-frame I set out to deliver and there's clearly still lots to come."