The media business for the insurance group, formerly known as Royal & Sun Alliance, includes £25m of UK billings.
RSA controls 47 different brands in 130 countries and the account includes ad spend for its online insurance brand More Th>n.
UM has held the media planning and buying account in the UK since May 2004 and today's decision leaves the IPG agency with a sizeable dent in its coffers.
The review process was led from the UK by RSA marketing director Clare Sheikh (née – Salmon), a former marketing director of ITV.
Last year, Sheikh told Media Week that creativity was top of the list in any agency selection process.
"We look for an agency that appreciates that creativity is also about driving the bottom line," she said.
"Commerciality is very important to us, as is the people-fit and chemistry. Someone who talks in UK clichés wouldn't fit our international sensitivity."
Other agencies involved in the pitch but dropped at an earlier stage include Omnicom's OMD, Aegis Media and WPP's Mediaedge:cia.
Earlier this year, RSA appointed below-the-line agency SFW and contract publisher Wardour Communications as part of a major consolidation of the group’s roster agencies, managed by Sheikh.
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