Broker management and policy administration platform BrokerCentral has teamed up with Applied Systems Europe and adopted its Applied Rating Hub to give users access to a panel of insurer and managing general agent personal lines schemes available via full-cycle EDI trading.

Premium finance provider PremFina said it grew its broker network by a third during 2025 and that it started 2026 with £1.1bn in contracted volumes. It said it was on target to hit £1.9bn by 2027. At is current growth rate, PremFina said it would achieve its targeted compound annual growth rate of 85% between 2024 and 2027.

Hardings Insurance Brokers has opened its doors for business as an independent Leeds-based commercial broker. Tom Butler and Martin Billington, who have more than 50 years of combined insurance industry experience, established the business. They previously worked together at Schofield Insurance, which was sold to Ardonagh in 2021.

Specialist motor insurer ERS has launched a new top-end personal lines proposition called Private Client Ultimate that will sit alongside its existing Prestige motor offering. Private Client Ultimate is aimed at high net worth clients with complex motor insurance needs. It provides cover for single vehicles valued at £350,000 and collections valued at £500,000.

Allianz Commercial has struck a deal with Reel Media that will see the managing general agent manage its entertainment underwriting business. Reel Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of Paragon Insurance Holdings. Cover will continue to be written on AA rated paper from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE.

Aviva plc has reported a group operating profit of £2.2bn for 2025, which is up by 25% on the £1.8bn posted the previous year. It said this included a £174m contribution from Direct Line, which Aviva acquired last year.

Admiral Group plc achieved a profit before tax of £958m in 2025, up by 16% on the previous year. Its group combined ratio was 80.1% for the year having deteriorated by 3.2 percentage points on the 76.9% achieved in 2024.

Motor insurance pricing nudged down by 0.1% in the three months to January 2026, according to data from Consumer Intelligence. It said this meant annual premiums had fallen by 3.3% on an annual basis, down from the 9.1% annual deflation recorded three months earlier.

Data from pricing consultancy Pearson Ham shows that van insurance premiums are down by 14% in the past year and are approximately 25% down from their peak in October 2024. However, Pearson Ham said pricing strategies employed by providers over the past 12 months varied significantly with the range of rate reductions over the year ranging from 7% to 34%.

Consumer watchdog Which? has called on the Financial Conduct Authority to examine if insurers are being slow to agree liability and settle storm damage claims. Since October, Which? said there had been six named storms and that it was concerned with how some insurers were approaching cover for storms and handling associated claims.

Financial consultancy MarshBerry has said that although the 13 insurance distribution deals announced so far in 2026 are up on the 10 announced during the same period last year, the figure is significantly below the long-term average of 18.2.

Beazley has reported a 19% drop in PBT to US$1,146.5m for 2025 (from US$1,423.5m in 2024). Net insurance written premiums were broadly stable at US$5,198.7m, while the undiscounted combined ratio rose slightly to 81% and RoE fell to 19%.

Asda Money has launched a mobile and gadget insurance proposition which it has delivered in collaboration with insurance intermediary, Taurus Insurance Services. The product offers three tiers of cover. The entry-level policy provides accidental damage cover with theft, and loss and mechanical breakdown cover available with the second and third tier options. The insurance is for mobile phones and gadgets such as tablets, smartwatches and laptops.

Managing general agent Globe Underwriting, which is part of Ardonagh, has rebranded as Orvia Underwriting and migrated its business to the platform of the same name. Ardonagh launched Orvia Underwriting earlier this year as its pan-European managing general agent platform.

London Market broker Price Forbes, which is part of The Ardonagh Group, has agreed to partner with mea Platform and use its AI technology to enhance its operational efficiency and service proposition across the broker’s business. Price Forbes said mea Platform’s technology would be used to improve data ingestion and document processing across submissions, enquiries, and related workflows.

Re/insurance broker Consilium has launched a multi-line policy for private equity firms offering cover for professional liability, crime and D&O exposures. Consilium said its professional and executive risks division had designed the policy in collaboration with its in-house legal counsel to address the complex exposures faced by private equity firms.