Insurer
Hiscox share price jumps over 15% after Intact bid report
Hiscox’s share price leapt by 15.2% at lunchtime on Friday 15 May after sister-title Insurance Post revealed Intact is eyeing up a potential bid.
UK commercial lines shrink 8% at Aviva in Q1
Aviva has revealed a £71m fall in UK commercial gross written premiums for the first quarter of the year.
Ageas to almost halve its workforce with 1800 job cuts by 2029
Ageas has announced plans to cut almost half its workforce following the acquisitions of Esure and Acromas.
Insurance DataLab recommends just nine insurers
Insurance DataLab has released its first recommended insurers cohort with just nine achieving the status.
Biba 2026 Countdown: Ageas UK’s Adam Beckett
recommends brokers should keep pushing boundaries and believes there is nothing like the moment the doors open and the conference comes alive.
Biba 2026 Countdown: Hiscox’s Tasha Pettet and James Stewart-Smith
Tasha Pettet, head of schemes, and James Stewart-Smith, commercial trading director at Hiscox UK, on if it should be enshrined in law that the Biba Conference is held in Manchester or whether it could move to Cheltenham in March.
Zurich’s Kelly on the importance of local trading and the insurer’s mid-market focus
Zurich has seen a 60% uptick in new business across its mid-market portfolio this year, according to Jacqui Kelly, UK head of sales and distribution – retail, who highlighted the importance of regional trading ahead of Biba’s 2026 conference.
Biba 2026 Countdown: Allianz’s Glyn Hughes and Nick Hobbs
Allianz’s Nick Hobbs and Glyn Hughes give clothing advice for first-time Biba attendees and feedback on their favourite time of day at the conference.
Intact launches Claims Charter for brokers
Intact Insurance has launched a Claims Charter, which it describes as a series of “clear and measurable commitments” designed to give brokers greater confidence in how claims are handled.
Brit begins rollout on Acturis as it targets SMEs
Brit Insurance has launched on Acturis as it targets SMEs with cyber cover.
Antares launches MGA platform
Antares Global has set up Scorpius MGA, a facilitator of managing general agent business that offers access to capacity, services and oversight within a single platform.
Bspoke and SchemeServe team-up on digital scheme trading service for brokers
Bspoke Group has launched a white-labelled digital trading capability, designed to give brokers faster, simpler access to scheme ownership.
Markerstudy to sell MGA business with CUO Humphreys poised to exit
Markerstudy Group is set to sell its managing general agent arm to the parent company of insurer Tradex as it focuses on broking, Insurance Age has learned.
Zurich crowns King head of the North
Andy King has taken on the role of head of regional market for the North at Zurich as it targets adding 15 underwriters across the country this quarter, Insurance Age can reveal.
Commercial Express claims first to market with 24/7 virtual underwriting assistant ‘Jamie’
Commercial Express has claimed to be the first UK managing general agent to deploy a 24/7 virtual underwriting assistant.
Aviva survey ranks broker priorities ahead of Biba conference
Strengthening partnerships with insurers is the top priority for brokers ahead of this year’s British Insurance Brokers’ Association’s conference, according to Aviva’s latest Broker Barometer.
Biba 2026 Countdown: Dual’s Moira Spencer
Moira Spencer, regional manager for the North West at Dual Underwriting, looks forward to beating everybody at shuffleboard, and recommends the Northern Quarter to switch off and trainers over heels to survive the two day event.
Analysis: Does Intact’s investment in UKGI signal a new era of insurer broker buys?
In 2025 the parent company of Top 100 UK broker Adler Fairways secured financial backing from Intact Financial Corporation. Insurer investments in brokers are nothing new, but the trend over the last decade has been divestments which raise the big…
Howden lifts the lid on MGA sale valuations
The UK remains the largest European market for MGAs, with gross written premium estimated at approximately £7.2bn in 2025, up around 20% year-on-year (2024: £6.3bn).
Wakam shares MGA partnership growth plans
Wakam UK has detailed its plans for being a “strategic partner” with managing general agents as it seeks further growth in the sector.
Biba 2026 Countdown: Bspoke’s Kieran Molloy
Kieran Molloy, underwriting manager at Bspoke, believes the spontaneous Biba meetings are often the most valuable and describes the perfect insurance all-rounder as someone with a never-say-die attitude who can win when everything is stacked against them.