HALF shut your eyes as you look out of Gary Withers' huge chief executive office at Norwich Union Life in York and you can see why the "steady ship" analogy is so apt.

With the fast-flowing Ouse just below his window in Wellington Row, you get the impression that the stabilisers of this big financial vessel keep it rock-steady all right.

It has been a stormy passage for 41-year-old Mr Withers since he took over the top job in Norwich Union Life in September last year, stepping into the shoes of Philip Scott, who became executive chairman.

It was a baptism of fire as he oversaw a staff of 16,500 throughout the UK, more than 3,000 of them in York where the NU Life business is headquartered.

Why? Because uncertainty has reigned in the insurance marketplace as the Government continues its review of the structure of the whole financial services marketplace.

This, says Mr Withers, sparked huge regulatory changes and "unhelpful media comment" which was based on a lack of understanding . "It didn't do much for consumer confidence," he says.

At the same time came the fall in stock exchange equity markets at the end of last year and the beginning of this year leading to low investor confidence.

It took a toll which showed up in the half-yearly figures for parent company Aviva in which operating profits dropped from £955 million in 2002 to £828 million, although it was hardly the plummet City analysts were expecting.

Like most companies in the sector, hard decisions had to be taken to reduce numbers, but York, he insists, had been largely protected from the stormy blast.

An announcement was made in March that 90 of the 495 sales and marketing jobs split between York, Norwich and Stevenage were to go.

"In the context of the company these cuts have been quite marginal and we can achieve much through natural wastage. We did lose some roles in sales and marketing because new business in the sector was down 20 per cent," says Mr Withers.

But he is cheerily convinced that the worst is likely to be over - and that Norwich Union will probably benefit from shakeouts in the industry in which, he observes, "a number of what would have been strong boards five years ago have now packed up." The Royal & Sun Alliance has already closed its life assurance business.

So far his optimism has been justified. Last Thursday's financial report on Aviva's nine months to September showed that new business sales for this year's third quarter were £271 million - marginally up by only one per cent on the previous quarter - a strong signal of stability and confirmation of Norwich Union's top market share in the UK life assurance sector. All this as 750 Norwich Union staff settle into a new £12 million 89,000 sq ft building at Monks Cross, Huntington - hardly an indication that Norwich Union is looking elsewhere for a different centre of operations for its Life business.

Besides, it is clear that Mr Withers loves York. "As a location to run the sort of business we are, this city is absolutely excellent. The family environment is terrific. For those that decide 'this is going to be my career' it's terrific."

He doesn't have the time nowadays to be a sportif - he used to love playing football, rugby, cricket and enjoyed windsurfing. Now he's a "watcher", especially of his eight-year-old son Matthew who, with him, is a member of the Mini section of York Rugby Club. He and his wife, Fiona, also have a daughter, Kristina, aged ten.

Strangely, Mr Withers is not a traditional life assurance person. He's a trained engineer who worked for Shell's operational research and found himself handling £5 billion worth of capital for projects.

That led him into fund management in the City before being headhunted by Aviva, as group strategy and development director on the group executive committee which runs the worldwide operation.

So where is the ship heading now? Mr Withers looks out over that fast-flowing river and says: "As the market recovers we have to make our scale and strength count. We have an 11 - 12 per cent market share in the UK and we are the market leader and that is quite a low share for a leading company.

"We must maintain this, but over time we will grow organically. A number of firms have left the market and their client base will come across to us."

And Norwich Union will score on pensions. "We don't need to do anything radical or re-invent how we do business. There will be some new products, but they won't be seen as radically different.. It is ours to play a sensible, steady game."

Updated: 09:55 Tuesday, October 28, 2003