The Association of British Insurers has said that 680 buildings, with a total sum insured of £14.9bn, have been entered into its Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility, which was launched on 1 April 2024. The facility was launched as an industry intervention to improve capacity in the multi-occupancy buildings insurance market. It has a particular focus on high-risk buildings with combustible cladding and fire safety issues.

Flood risk specialist JBA Risk Management has partnered with NVIDIA’s Earth-2 team to develop the use of AI in its flood risk catastrophe models. The work centred on getting a better understanding of exactly how rare and extreme weather events would impact the insurance market. The initiative builds on previous work using Earth-2 by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California.

Managing general agent Alps has launched a new commercial excess protection policy, which is underwritten by Collinson. The product has limits ranging from £250 to £2,500 and Alps said the cover would give brokers added flexibility when arranging commercial insurance for clients.

Motor carrier Sabre Insurance Group plc has reported profit before tax of £48.6m for 2024, more than double the figure achieved the previous year. It said gross written premium was up by 5% to £236.4m and that its combined operating ratio improved by 7.4 percentage points to 84.2%. The carrier also announced its first share buyback programme.

Kennedys IQ, the technology division of Kennedys Law LLP, has launched a neuro-symbolic AI risk analysis solution, Kennedys IQ SmartRisk. The technology combines rules-based and deep learning approaches. Kennedys said it would assist insurers in reviewing and analysing policies, liability and coverage.

Flood Re has secured £140m in fully-collateralised UK flood retrocessional reinsurance following the successful completion of its first catastrophe bond, Vision 2039 – Series 2025-1. Flood Re issued the catastrophe bond through the Lloyd’s insurance-linked securities transformer structure London Bridge 2 PCC Limited.

The International Underwriting Association appointed Chris Jones (pictured) as chief executive officer. He will take up the post on 1st May and replaces Dave Matcham, who is stepping down after 20 years in the position. Jones is currently the IUA’s director of legal, underwriting and claims.

HM Treasury has published an action plan to streamline and simplify UK regulation and ensure it serves to enable rather than prohibit economic growth. The three-point plan aims to tackle the complexity and burden of regulation, reduce uncertainty across the regulatory system, and to challenge and shift excessive regulatory risk aversion.

Jensten Group has announced the creation of Jensten Network, which is open to directly authorised brokerages as well as existing appointed representatives and Coversure franchise members. It will provide client money handling, access to markets, M&A support, regulatory guidance and business development support.

Yokahu has launched cat-risk.com which is an independent, many-to-many parametric risk exchange for the London re/insurance market. It connects brokers, carriers and data providers and enables real-time risk assessment, pricing, and capacity allocation. Operating as a coverholder, Yokahu manages each carrier’s portfolio separately enabling insurers to co-insure risks in line with their risk appetites.

Consumer watchdog Which? has said some insurers are still charging annual percentage rates of more than 30% to customers who pay for their cover on a monthly basis. It questioned 52 motor insurers and 46 home insurers. The average APR for motor insurers was 22.84% and 21.59% for home insurers, although Which? found examples in both markets of APRs above 30%.

Alan Boswell Group has teamed up with niche commercial insurer Peach to expand its scheme for complementary therapists. Alan Boswell is the exclusive insurance provider for the Association of Reflexologists and International Federation of Aromatherapists. The broker said the partnership with Peach would enable it to adapt the covers offered to members.

In the past year, Zurich UK said it identified 4,049 fraudulent claims, up by 10% on the previous year, worth a combined total of £94.8m. The carrier said casualty claims accounted for £61m of the total with property and motor adding more than £19m and £14m respectively.

Ardonagh Advisory has acquired Blackpool-based Anderson & Co (Holdings) Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary Anderson & Co (Insurance Brokers) Limited. The firm operates across personal and commercial lines and was established more than 50 years ago. It will join the north division of Ardonagh Advisory General Insurance Broking.

IK Partners, through its IK Partnership III Fund, has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Seventeen Group, which comprises brokerage James Hallam, specialised managing general agent Touchstone and London Re, a joint venture with MRH Trowe. Seventeen was established in 1982. It operates from 25 offices and manages around £400m in premiums.

Law firm Clyde and Co’s latest annual Growth Report shows that there were 204 global carrier merger and acquisition transactions completed in 2024, down from the 346 recorded in the previous year and the lowest figure since the first report was published in 2009. The firm said high interest rates, geopolitical instability and increasing regulatory oversight had put the break on M&A activity.