Brown & Brown (Europe) Limited has acquired Sunderland-based BCM Acquisitions Limited, trading as 1st UK Broking, which was established in 2014 by managing director Stuart Crosby. It has a focus on fleet insurance and also provides employers’ liability, public liability, buildings and contents insurance. Crosby will continue to lead the business following the deal, which has received regulatory approval.

Insurance brand Careless has teamed up with claims service provider Claims Consortium Group to power its claims concierge service for its new personal belongings product. The policy is underwritten by Guernsey-based 1Edge, with Claims Consortium Group acting as the third-party administrator. Additional products providing cover for renters, travel, cyber and buildings are to follow. Protection products are also under design.

Esure Group, which comprises esure, Sheilas’ Wheels and First Alternative, has reported a combined operating ratio of 84.5% for 2024, an improvement of 18 percentage points on the previous year. Profit after tax was £57.7m, turning around the £60.1m loss it posted in 2023. Policies in force nudged up from 2.07 million to 2.13 million.

Digital bank Monzo has launched a contents insurance product for renters and homeowners. Monzo said there were more than five million rented properties in the UK and only half of all renters had contents insurance. The new product offers cover for damage and theft, inside and outside of the home, including for the replacement of locks and keys. Monzo said other insurance products were in the pipeline.

Zurich Insurance Company has made a strategic investment in specialist M&A insurer Icen Risk. Icen said the deal would support its plans to grow its footprint both in Europe and North America. Icen control gross written premium of approximately £70m and has coverholder status at Lloyd’s. It offers warranty and indemnity, tax, IP, and environmental risks cover in European mid-market M&A transactions. It aims to offer a wider product suite in additional territories following the investment.

NBS has added Hiscox Insurance Ltd to its panel. The carrier will provide A-rated capacity on NBS’s non-standard household products, including its home and contents plus, business home, and contents plus schemes. The move complements the existing household capacity provided by TMHCC. NBS household products target owners of high and non-standard risk properties.

HL Partnership, which is an appointed representative network for mortgage and protection professionals, has appointed Source Insurance to its general insurance panel. Source, which focuses on providing property insurance for homeowners and landlords, said the agreement represented a key step in its strategy to expand its footprint in the financial services sector.

Zurich Municipal has found through Freedom of Information requests that local councils have received 35% more claims from property owners for flood damage caused by sudden downpours in the past two years. Although the government has committed to invest £1.6bn in highways maintenance, Zurich Municipal said this would only scratch the surface for local authorities as they struggle with Victorian-era drainage systems and torrential rain from climate change.

Aviva estimates that 83% of UK adults are planning a holiday this year, either overseas or in the UK. Its latest “How We Live” report found that more than 40% were planning to spend more than last year on holidays. It said the average budget for those heading overseas was more than £4,000 while a staycation was in excess of £2,000. Aviva said 11% of travellers chose never to buy insurance when travelling abroad.

HM Treasury has published its findings from a review of its whiplash reforms in a report entitled: “Effect of the Civil Liability Act 2018 on motor insurance policyholders.” The report covered three reporting years: 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23. It found there was a year-on-year decrease in the total value of third-party personal injury claims under private motor insurance policies.

The Ardonagh Group completed 68 acquisitions in 2024 and announced a 24% rise in reported income to approximately £1.5bn. It said reported adjusted EBITDA grew by 31% to £527m. During the year, the group expanded its international footprint, entering Spain and New Zealand for the first time. In February 2025, it refinanced group borrowing and its average cost of debt is now 7.5%.

Document processing specialist Input for You has partnered with AI-powered automation firm Netcall to adopt its AI-driven intelligent document processing platform, Liberty IDP. The move has reduced the average wait time of payback claims from 20 days to under four for its insurance and health insurance clients. It has enabled Input for You to redeploy hundreds of staff who had previously been tasked with manual data input.

Tesco Insurance and Money Services has signed a deal with Zensar Technologies to implement a comprehensive modernisation and digital transformation programme. The partnership will enable Tesco IMS to establish a scalable, cloud-first ecosystem. It will also enable Tesco IMS to carve out its operations from Tesco Bank, following the sale of its banking operations to Barclays UK and implement the specific regulatory controls required for the insurance business.

CDS Superstores, which is the parent company of The Range, wilko and Homebase, has teamed up with Best Insurance and Excitare.ai to bring a range of insurance products to market. The deal will mean products are available at more than 200 UK outlets offering cover for pets, home contents and gadgets including phone, tablet and laptop insurance.

Global maritime risk management firm Ambrey has launched managing general agent Ambrey Global Specialty Limited. It will specialise in ‘spot breach’ marine hull war risks insurance. The MGA will be available via the Davies MGA Services Limited platform. It will operate as an appointed representative. The launch of AGS follows that of Ambrey Insurance Brokers in 2020 – also an appointed representative of Davies.

Legacy acquirer DARAG Group has inked a loss portfolio transfer deal with UK-based Soteria Insurance Limited, which is the former underwriting business of the Co-operative Group. Under the agreement, DARAG Deutschland AG will reinsure a portfolio of UK commercial policies in run-off written by SIL (formerly CIS General Insurance Limited). It is expected that a Part VII transfer of the same portfolio of policies into DARAG Insurance UK Limited will follow.