Aviva has struck an exclusive 5-year deal with Santander for the bank to sell its life insurance policies to its UK customers. Aviva’s general insurance products are already being offered through Santander, however the new deal will see the Spanish bank add life insurance, critical illness, and income protection policies to its list of cover being offered to its banking customers in the UK. The insurance policies will be offered to customers via Santander’s 1,300 high street branches, plus over the phone and online. The 5-year agreement to sell life insurance policies on behalf of Aviva, formerly known in the UK as Norwich union, will begin from June 2011. The latest deal with Santander brings Aviva’s tally of “bancassurance” agreements, whereby they use bank staff to sell their products, to 50 in the UK, and 90 across Europe. The deal is also good news for Santander’s expansion plan. The bank is expected to add to its UK high street empire later this year when it picks up 300 branches which are being sold off from the Royal Bank of Scotland. It also bought Abbey, Alliance and Leicester and savings arm of Bradford and Bingley in recent times so the Aviva deal with further boost its rapid growth.