More than 100 insurance failures during 2012

Some 117 firms failed last year, according to Experian's latest business insolvency index.

However, this was still a 15.83% fall on the number of insurance companies which became insolvent during 2011 - with just 1.02% of the total insurance business population failing during the year, down on the 1.22% recorded for 2011.

Insurance fared well compared to the UK economy at large with overall insolvencies across the board falling just 0.86% compared to 2011.

The areas which endured the biggest