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Competition / Competitors We face significant competition in all our Protection segment operations. Our competitors include other large and highly rated insurance carriers. Some of these competitors have greater resources than we do, and many of them offer similar products and use similar distribution channels. We also face competition in our life, long-term care and group insurance product lines for independent sales intermediaries and our dedicated sales specialists. This competition is based primarily upon product pricing and features, compensation and benefits structure and support services offered. We continuously provide technology upgrades and enhanced training, and we seek to improve service for our independent sales intermediaries and dedicated sales specialists. In our European payment protection insurance business, we are one of the few payment protection insurance providers with operations across Europe. Our competitors are divided into two broad groups: the large pan-European payment protection providers and local competitors, consisting principally of smaller national insurance companies. We also compete with captive insurers, particularly in the U.K., as our distributors increasingly consider the benefits of providing payment protection insurance directly to their customers.