Musical instrument and equipment specialist Lark Music has partnered with the Gibson Garage London to launch a free, 12-month point-of-sale cover available to UK customers buying Gibson and Epiphone priced above £1,500. Lark Music is part of Howden.

Young broker Ismaeel Latif has launched Manchester-based Red Apple Brokers under the Coversure umbrella with an emphasis on customer support and education. He said his decision to launch a broker after just eight years in the industry was driven by a desire to promote better customer education.

White Mountains Insurance Group has made a structured capital investment of almost £95m in Bishop Street Underwriters, which is a RedBird Capital Partners portfolio company that owns UK managing general agents Avid and Landmark Underwriting.

On 1st July, Katherine Braddick will become the next deputy governor for prudential regulation at the Bank of England and chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority, after incumbent Sam Woods finishes his term at the end of June. Braddick is group head of strategic policy and senior adviser to the CEO at Barclays.

Axa has reported total group revenues of approximately £102bn for 2025, an increase of 6% on the previous year. It announced underlying earnings of £7.4bn, also up by 6% on 2024. Axa said its P&C business delivered gross written premiums and other revenues of £51bn, up by 5% on last year. It achieved underlying revenues of £5.2bn, which were up by 9% and saw its combined operating ratio improve by 0.4 percentage points to 90.6%.

Allianz UK (Holdings) has reported an operating profit of ££476m for 2025, an increase of 29.5% on the previous year. Its combined operating ratio was 93%, an improvement of 2 percentage points on 2024. Total business volumes were £4.6bn, down by 0.3% on the previous 12 months.

In January 2025, storms Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra combined to cause storm damage that saw the month account for almost three-quarters (73%) of total storm damage claims for the entire year, according to Paymentshield. The insurance provider said that in 2024, January was also a peak month for storm damage, accounting for 46% of the year’s total.

Bspoke Private Clients has announced that from 1st April this year, all new business and renewals will have increased limits of up to £15m per location following a capacity enhancement deal it has struck with Accelerant. Bspoke Private Clients said it had also increased its risk appetite.

Hiscox UK reported insurance contract written premium of approximately £710.1m for the year ended 31 December 2025. This was up 8.4% on the £637.5m achieved the previous year. Hiscox London Market announced insurance contract written premium of £922m (2024: £907.2m) and an undiscounted combined ratio 85.9% (2024: 88.6%).

Ageas Group has reported non-life inflows for 2025 of £6.58bn, up by 14.4% on the £5.75bn achieved the previous year. Its non-life combined ratio improved to 92.5% from 93.6%. The group achieved a net operating result of £1.43bn, up by 33% on the previous year.

Managing general agent Elitium, incubated by Mission Underwriters, has launched. It has a focus on providing commercial combined insurance for trades within the manufacturing sector and property cover for unoccupied residential and commercial properties. It is the tenth UK MGA in Mission’s stable.

The Financial Conduct Authority has set out its priorities for the insurance market for the year ahead and said it wants to be, “predictable, purposeful and proportionate” in the way it oversees the market. It said the Consumer Duty, communication, effective responses to customers and delivering what was promised were its focus.

Movo Partnership has struck a deal to give its members access to Quote Portal, which will enable them to complete full-cycle EDI trading with a panel of more than 30 insurers and managing general agents. The agreement will initially see Movo members get access to personal lines motor products.

Mony Group plc, the parent of MoneySuperMarket, has reported group revenue of £446.3m for the year ended 31 December 2025. This was up 2% on the previous year. It said profit after tax had nudged up 1% to £80.7m. In contrast, it announced that insurance revenue had dropped by 1% to £232.5m.

Alps has launched a motor breakdown policy for commercial heavy goods vehicles of over 7.5 tonnes. The managing general agent’s new product offers national coverage for drivers and their vehicles and provides roadside and depot assistance following an unexpected breakdown.

Mel Franke and Ciara Curran have acquired the book of business for Coversure Teddington from retiring franchisee Philip Macdonald. The duo are longstanding members of the team and have been at Coversure Teddington for nine and seven years respectively.