Ecclesiastical Insurance's Broker Wellbeing Survey, which canvassed responses from 201 brokers, has found that almost half of those questioned rate their stress level as either high or very high. This is the highest percentage recorded since the survey launched in 2019. During the last 12 months, almost half said they had experienced anxiety or had been overwhelmed. A fifth said they had found themselves unable to cope.

Property focused climate and risk consultancy ZestyAI, has published a report in which 61% of the 220 executives canvassed said the insurance market was not adapting quickly enough to climate remated risks. The 2025 State of Property Insurance report found that 68% of executives believed advanced AI models can help manage climate-related losses more effectively, but that only one in four cited AI as a primary method for managing perils.

Broker Willis has highlighted a significantly softening international mining market in its latest Mining Market Review. The report said capacity for mining liability risks had increased for a third successive year and that premiums for mining property damage and business interruption insurance were seeing double-digit rate reductions.

Data from pricing consultancy Pearson Ham has shown that motor premiums fell by 2.9% in Q3 of this year, extending a downward trajectory that began in April 2024. Combined buildings and contents premiums were down by 4.9% in Q3, which was the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.

PIB Group Ltd has acquired Guernsey-based general insurance broker Ross Gower Group. It was founded in 1948 and has a team of 18 led by owner and director Dean De La Rue and director Gareth Burchell. It provides car, home and commercial vehicle insurance to clients in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Managing general agent and Lloyd’s coverholder Blenheim Partnerships, which is part of White Bear Capital Limited, is to establish a new cyber team and has appointed Geoff Pryor-White to build out the proposed delegated cyber and technology E&O offering. Pryor-White founded Tarian Underwriting in 2016, which he grew and led through to a sale in 2022.

Specialist managing general agent services platform OneAdvent, has secured a Lloyd’s capacity agreement for its Financial Lines MGA that will enable it to pursue growth opportunities in the EU and emerging markets. Lloyd’s coverholder and financial lines managing general underwriter Casper Specialty (UK) will lead the new facility.

Specialist managing general agent Carrow Insurance has launched a new range of accident and health covers for the UK, which is aimed at the corporate and affinity market. Carrow is supported by MGA incubator Mission, which provides Carrow’s infrastructure and support services.

Davies has launched two new AI agents on its ClaimPilot product suite to assist casualty claims handlers and adjusters. One will assist on opening a claim and conducting initial tasks such as reading documentation. The other will focus on automating claim validation tasks.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau has launched ‘Connected to Protect’, its new five-year fraud strategy that centres on increasing the quality and quantity of data held and raising public understanding of insurance fraud. The IFB said it would deliver a unified technology platform that will bring the IFB datasets together in one place, alongside a fraud investigation case management system.

Partners& is looking to expand into the South West and has invested in city centre premises in Bristol. The new office, which will act as the broker’s South West hub, is located at The Crescent in Temple Back. Partners& said its client focus was on those in the digital, technology, life sciences, construction, natural resources and the creative industries.

Engineering and technology insurer HSB has created a cyber insurance and incident response solution aimed at businesses in the UK and Ireland with revenues of up to £10m. The CyberPro product offers cover against cyber risks, data breaches and IT system vulnerabilities. It offers incident response support via a helpline.

Merger and acquisition advisory specialist MarshBerry said a flurry of deals in September made it the busiest month since April this year when the tax year ended. But the total of 25 transactions in Q3 this was down on the 30 deals in Q2. In 2025, the total transactions for the year to date is 75, down by 34% on the 114 achieved in the same nine months last year.

Consumer Intelligence has launched a new pricing service for general insurers which it says brings transparency to the market and enables carriers to better see exactly how the machine learning technology generates its outputs. Consumer Intelligence said ‘black box’ AI, which generates pricing decisions but does not allow users to see what factors it considers or how it weights these factors was not the best approach.

The London and International Insurance Brokers’ Association has published a report detailing the role of specialty brokers in the bid to close the widening protection gap. The publication, which is entitled “The Innovation Imperative: Why Brokers Matter More Than Ever”, was drafted in association with Gracechurch and Trimstone Partners. It says the protection gap is widening because emerging risks are evolving faster than the market can develop insurance solutions to manage them.

Property claims inflation continues to squeeze insurers’ costs despite a general softening over the past 18 months, according to analysis from Claims Consortium Group. The firm’s anonymised tracker, using a mix of proprietary and public micro and macroeconomic data, found that some cost categories have stabilised while others remain volatile, creating pinch points for insurers and repair networks.